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RANOLF AND AMOHIA. 



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RANOLF AND AMOHIA 



A SOUTH-SEA DAY-DREAM. 



BY 



ALFRED DOMETT. 



LONDON : 
SMITH, ELDER & CO,, 15, WATERLOO PLACE. 






Km ri eXwiQ piEyaXr}. 



Plato: PJmdo, 145. 






?rt 



RANOLF AND AMOHIA. 



CANTO THE FIRST. 

i. 
" Glorious ! this life of lake 
And hill-top ! toil and tug through tangled brake, 
Dense fern, and smothering broom ; 
And then such rests as now I take, 
In sunflecked soft cathedral-gloom 
Of forests immemorial ! Noble sport 
Boar-hunting ! yet that furious charge, the last 
Of the dead monster there had cut it short 
For me, and once for all, belike, 
Had not his headlong force impaled 
The savage on my tough wood-pike 
That, propped with planted knee and foot, 
Its butt against a rata-root, 
From chest to chine right through him passed ; 
And nought his inch-thick hide availed, 

I 



2 Ranolf and Amoliia. [canto i. 

Or ring-like tusks upthrusting through 
The notches of his foaming lips, 
By constant whetting planed away 
To chisel-sharpness at their tips : 
It weakened him — the knife-dig, too, 
He caught when first commenced the fray ; 
When, as in haste I sprang astride 
The narrowed gully — fust a ditch 
With flowering koromiko rich — 
Between my feet the villain drove, 
And fierce, with short indignant sniffs, 
And grunts like muttering thunder, strove 
To gain his haunts beyond the cliffs, 
And foil the foes he fled from, yet defied. 

" But frim, my glorious bull-dog ! Nim, 
My mighty hunter of the boar, 
Who never recked of life or limb 
That old antagonist before ! 
That rip has finished his career — 
His last boar-fight is fought ; no more 
He'll come to greet me as of yore, 
Wriggling his lithe spine till his tail 
Whipped his black muzzle in the excess 
Of cringing canine happiness ; 
No more his genuine love express 
With such dumb signs and tokens clear, 
Mock bites and mouthings of the hand, 
Easy as words to understand, 
Strange, a mere dog should be so dear ! 

But he is dead, and — done with, must we say ? 

Poor victim of this universal demon-play 

Of Life — my fate to-morrow, his to-day, 



canto i.] Ranolf and Amohia. 3 

Which I, for sport, have sealed — as God (or no God, then 
Say you ?) that of his myriad worlds and men ?" 

And ' pluck ' like his, that nought could quail ; 
Good temper — honest, humble love and truth — 

These must not live again, forsooth ! 

No future for the Dog — but why ? 
Duty, our highest inborn feeling, who 
Has stronger than this guardian true 
To death? or can we in our own rejoice, 
As sprung from self-determined choice ? 

That Self with sc much bias made — 

Our will by strongest motive swayed ? 

Scarce higher than his, our claims, I fear, 

To merit of our own appear. 

Then compound, too, not simple, he, 

A work complete no more than we, 

(If stuff for hope therein may be), 

Has not his nature, like our own, 
Instincts at war, the lower with the high ? 
With trusts to be fulfilled, obedience shown — 
The longing for the ramble, game forbidden, 

Or bone, like miser's treasure, hidden ? 
And if, instead of eyes that often so 

With solemn melancholy glow, 
He had but tongue to speak with, who can show 

He might not tell of hopes, and dim 
Perceptions, yearnings, that no longer dumb, 
He, too, may rise to human, and become 
Erect some day, a ruler and a lord, 

And, like his master, loved, adored, 
A visible God and Providence to him — 
Though swayed, no doubt, full oft, by rage, caprice and whim. 



Ranolf mid Amohia. [canto i. 

" Poor wretch ! we read his failings at a glance ; 
All that in this life hinders his advance. 
Ungifted to abstract, he can conceive 
No clear ideal to aim at or achieve ; 
Ungifted to reflect — himself discern, 
His depth beneath the ideal could never learn ; 
Had he both gifts, would want constructive brain, 
To plan the way the high ideal to gain — 
Want hands to work with, had he found the way, 
So in his low estate perforce must stay. 



But are our organs that compare — combine- 
Dispart and spin deductions fine, 
Creations so exclusively divine, 
They needs must be preserved compact, 
By no harsh doom destroyed, dissolved ? 
When (though we match the Dog in eyes) 
The precious, last, profoundest prize 
They palm upon us for a fact, 
In spite of all those starlit skies, 
Is in our petty selves to see 
And what from us (by what decree ?) 
Is still evolving and evolved, 
The highest Being that can be ? — 
But truce to that preposterous claim — 
I take it and stand by the same. 
There is no God much worth the name, 
Whatever their scale, where'er their seat, 
Would drop creations, ificomplete ; 
Let any force his pla?is defeat ; 
The wants he caused, leave unsupplied, 
Desires he gave unsatisfied / 



canto i.] Ranolf and Amohia. 

Better believe all creatures — foul or fair, 
One universal endless progress share ; 
In the procession headed by mankind, 

Only a march or two behind ; 
Each rank of God's grand army onward bent 
To higher states and stages — who knows where ? — 

Of free and fortunate development !" 



So mused a youngster as he lay at ease, 

Profaning (must we needs confess ?) 
With chestnut-glossed pet meerschaum the pure breeze ; 
Enjoying in delicious cool no less 
The mighty shade of old majestic trees, 
Whose tops the skies beneath our feet immerse, 

Down in a land, green waving, grand, 
Upon our seeming world-medallion's rich reverse : 

The ruder Italy laid bare 

By that keen Searcher of the Seas 
Whose tempest-battling, never-baffled keel, 
Left half our planet little to reveal ; 

But restless roaming everywhere 
Zigzagged the vast Pacific as he prest 
With godlike patience his benignant quest ; 
True hero-god, who realized the notion 
Its races feign of mythic Maui still, 
And plucked up with a giant might of will 
A hundred Islands from Oblivion's ocean ! 
Sea-king and sage — staunch huntsman of pure Fame, 
Beating the waste of waters for his game, 
Untrodden shores or tribes without a name ; 



Ranolf and Amohia. [canto i. 

That nothing in an island's shape, 
Mist-muffled peak or faint cloud-cape 
Might his determined thoughtful glance escape ; 
No virgin-lands be left unknown, 
Where future Englands might be sown, 
And nations noble as his own. 



in. 
It was a wondrous realm beguiled 
Our youth amid its charms to roam ; 
O'er scenes more fair, serenely wild, 
Not often summer's glory smiled ; 
When flecks of cloud, transparent, bright, 
No alabaster half so white — 
Hung lightly in a luminous dome 
Of sapphire — seemed to float and sleep 
Far in the front of its blue steep ; 
And almost awful, none the less 
For its liquescent loveliness, 
Behind them sunk — just o'er the hill 
The deep abyss, profound and still — 
The so immediate Infinite ; 
That yet emerged, the same, it seemed 
In hue divine and melting balm, 
In many a lake whose crystal calm 
Uncrisped, unwrinkled, scarcely gleamed : 
Where sky above and lake below 
Would like one sphere of azure show, 
Save for the circling belt alone, 
The softly-painted purple zone 
Of mountains — bathed where nearer seen 
In sunny tints of sober green, 



canto i.] Ranolf and Amoliia. 

With velvet dark of woods between 



> 



All glossy glooms and shifting sheen ; 
While here and there, some peak of snow 
Would o'er their tenderer violet lean. 



And yet within this region, fair 
With wealth of waving woods — these glades 
And glens and lustre-smitten shades, 
Where trees of tropic beauty rare 
With graceful spread and ample swell 
1 Uprose — and that strange asphodel 
On tufts of stiff green bayonet-blades, 
Great bunches of white bloom upbore, 
Like blocks of seawashed madrepore, 
That steeped the noon in fragrance wide, 
Till by the exceeding sweet opprest 
The stately tree-fern leaned aside 
For languor, with its starry crown 
Of radiating fretted fans, 
And proudly-springing beauteous crest 
Of shoots all brown with glistening down, 
Curved like the lyre-bird's tail half-spread, 
Or necks opposed of wrangling swans, 
Red bill to bill — black breast to breast — 
Aye ! in this realm of seeming rest, 
What sights you met and sounds of dread ! 
Calcareous caldrons, deep and large 
With geysers hissing to their marge ; 
Sulphureous fumes that spout and blow ; 
Columns and cones of boiling snow ; 
And sable lazy-bubbling pools 
Of sputtering mud that never cools ; 



Ranolf and Amohia. [canto i. 

With jets of steam through narrow vents 

Uproaring, maddening to the sky, 

Like cannon-mouths that shoot on high 

In unremitting loud discharge 

Their inexhaustible contents ; 

While oft beneath the trembling ground 

Rumbles a drear persistent sound 

Like ponderous engines infinite, working 

At some tremendous task below ! — 

Such are the signs and symptoms — lurking 

Or launching forth in dread display — 

Of hidden fires, internal strife, 

Amid that leafy, lush array 

Of rank luxuriant verdurous life : 

Glad haunts above where blissful love 

Might revel, rove, enraptured dwell ; 

But through them pierce such tokens fierce 

Of rage beneath and frenzies fell ; 

As if, to quench and stifle it, 

Green Paradise were flung o'er Hell — 

Flung fresh with all her bowers close-knit, 

Her dewy vales and dimpled streams ; 

Yet could not so its fury quell 

But that the old red realm accurst 

Would still recalcitrate, rebel, 

Still struggle upward and outburst 

In scalding fumes, sulphureous steams. 

It struck you as you paused to trace 

The sunny scenery's strange extremes, 

As if in some divinest face, 

All heavenly smiles, angelic grace, 

Your eye at times discerned, despite 

Sweet looks with innocence elate, 



canto i.] Ranolf and Amohia. 

Some wan wild spasm of blank affright, 
Or demon scowl of pent-up hate ; 
Or some convulsive writhe confest, 
For all that bloom of beauty bright, 
An anguish not to be represt. 
You look — a moment bask in, bless, 
Its laughing light of happiness ; 
But look again — what startling throes 
And fiery pangs of fierce distress 
The lovely lineaments disclose — 
How o'er the fascinating features flit 
The genuine passions of the nether pit ! 

iv. 

Loose-clad in careless sailor-guise, 
But richly robed in that imperial dress 

Of symmetry and suppleness 
And sinewy strength that Nature's love supplies, 
When, at youth's prime, her work, superbly planned, 
Takes the last touches from her Artist-hand, 

Was he who rested in a forest near 
Calm Rotonia's ferny strand. 

To him was not denied, 'twas clear, 

That best of boons at her command — 
A joyous spirit sparkling like the day, 
Set in well-tempered, finely-fashioned clay. 

His fair complexion, slightly tanned 

By central suns' and oceans' glare ; 

His eyes' gray gleams and amber hair, 
Were such as brighten best where gloom and cold 
And sombre clouds harsh northern skies enfold : 

But curling locks and lip, and glance 

Keen for all beauty everywhere ; 



10 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto i. 

The straight harmonious features — though perchance 

Squarer than pure proportion asked, in cheek 

And brow, more thought and firmness to bespeak — 

Of southern fervor and quick feeling told. 

His love of the mysterious — vast — whate'er 

Of solemn and sublime could bear 

The soul aloft on wings of thrilling awe ; 

The restless daring that his reason led 

To question all he heard and read ; 

The senses potent to divine the springs 

Of pleasure in a thousand things, 
Seemed from each clime some elements to draw — 
Like Gothic metal run in Grecian mould. 

In active body — vigorous mind, 

Such seeming contrasts he combined ; 
Still, in his face whate'er expressions shone, 
And to what moods soever he was prone, — 
'Twas hardy gladness by strong will controlled — 
A summer torrent bounding on incessant 
Through rampart layers of glittering stone, 
Seemed the habitual and abiding one. 

Blithe Hope upon his forehead bold 
Sate like a sunbeam on a gilt mosque-crescent ; 

And oft, in reverie, if he gazed apart, 
His eye would kindle as in admiration 
Of some past scene to fancy present, 
Or glory glowing in the future distance ; 

As if one breaking morn of gold 

Were round Life's whole horizon rolled ; 
As if his pulse beat music, and his heart 
Clashed cymbal-bursts of exultation 

In the mere rapture of existence. 



Ranolf and Amohia. n 



v. 

A shriek within the covert near, 

A second, third, assailed his ear ; 

Straight for the sound at once he dashed ; 

Through tangled boughs and brushwood crashed, 

And lopped and slashed the tangles black 

Of looped and shining supplejack, 

Till on a startling scene he came, 

That filled his soul with rage and shame. 



Her mantle flung upon the ground, 
Her graceful arms behind her bound, 
With shoulders bare, dishevelled hair, 
There stood a Maiden of the land, 
More stately fair than could elsewhere 

Through all its ample range be found. 
Two of his comrades, hired amid 
The tribes whose chieftains held command 
O'er all the vales those mountains hid — 
Those western mountains forest-crowned — 
Wild striplings, who, uncurbed from birth, 
Deemed foulest wrong but food for mirth, 
So that their listless life it stirred, 
Were basely busy on each hand, 
With flax-blades binding to a tree 
The Maid who strove her limbs to free. 
They knew her — for they oft had heard 
Of that surpassing form and face ; 
They knew the hate, concealed or shown, 
Between her people arid their own ; 



12 Ranolf and Amokia. [canto i. 

The feuds, when open war would cease, 

That smouldered in precarious peace ; 

They knew the track by which the chase 

Had lured them to that lonely place, 

Was so unused, so tangled, rough, 

They doubtless would have time enough, 

And might without pursuit retrace 

Their steps through mountain-woods, so dense, 

No wrong would be suspected thence, 

No outrage dreamt of ; so they thought — 

If such a thoughtless impulse wild 

Of mischief can a thought be styled — 

They fancied, when the Maid they caught 

At that secluded spot, alone, 

With one slave-girl (who shrieking fled, 

While after her a third accomplice sped, 

Lest she the alarm too soon should spread) 

It was a chance to win a name, 

Through all the tribe some facile fame — 

Let but their foreign friend agree, 

If such a captive to their chief they led, 

At his behest, dispose, to be. 



VI. 

Not more incensed— scarce lovelier in her wrath — 
The silver-bow'd snow-Goddess seen 
By rapt Actaeon at her awful bath ; 
Not prouder looked— scarce fiercer in her pride, 
The yellow-haired Icenian Queen, 

Stung by the tortures she defied — 
Than did that flaxen-kilted Maid— 



to i.] Ranolf and Amohia. 13 

»A warmer Dian — at her russet rise, 
Dun-shining through autumnal mist ; 

A young Boadicea sunnier skies 
Had into browner beauty kissed. 

So flashed her eyes with scorn and ire, 

They seemed, as deep in purple shade 

The slanting sunbeams left the wood 

And gloomy yew whereby she stood, 

Two glowing gems of hazel fire : 

And though a single sparkling tear — 

Upon each lower eyelid checked, 

Whose thick silk fringe, a coalblack streak, 

So darkly decked her flushing cheek 

In mellow contrast to its clear 

Rich almond brown — alone confest 

Some softer feelings lurked among 

The passions that her bosom wrung ; 

Yet indignation's withering flame 

So towered and triumphed o'er the rest, 

Did so enkindle and inform 

Her heaving breast, her writhing frame, 

Just then, you would almost have deemed, 

Her very tresses as they streamed, 

With lightnings from that inner storm, 

And not with flecks of sunset, gleamed. 

" Slaves /" she was saying: "this to me! 

Me, Amohia I Know y on not 

The daughter of the * Wailing Sea ? ' 

Is Tangi-moan a forgot ? 
When he shall this vile outrage know, 
Your homes shall blaze, your hearts' -blood flow ; 

A life for every hair shall pay 

Of her y oiive dared insult this day /" 



14 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto i. 

Swift to her aid our Wanderer sprung, 
Aside those ruffians roughly flung ; 
Cut, tore away, the bonds that laced 
Those tender arms, that slender waist; 
Reproached, rebuked with sarcasm strong 
The culprits for their coward wrong ; 
The Maid with soothing words addrest — 
Regret and deep disgust expressed 
At what disturbed her — so distrest ; 
By every gesture, look, declared 
How much her grief and pain he shared ; 
Urged all that might with most effect 
Her anger stay, her grief allay, 
And smooth her ruffled self-respect. 



And if, while thus the Maid he freed 
With eager haste, and soon replaced 
Her mantle, tagged with sable cords 
Of silky flax in simple taste, 
He could not choose but interfuse 
Some looks amid his cheering words, 
Keen admiration's natural meed 
To one with so much beauty graced ; 
Think you, this stranger's form and mien 
Could fail to make their influence felt ; 
Unconscious though she might have been 
Of their magnetic power to melt, 
Pierce, permeate her spirit's gloom, 
And all her brightening breast illume, 
Till docile, ductile, it became 
To his persuasive voice's sway — 
Mild breathings of discretion, reason's claim ; 



canto l] Ranolf and Amohia. 15 

As on a summer day 
The silent sunbeams sink into and fill 
A snowy cloud, and make it lighter still 

For gentlest breeze to bear away ? 

And pleased was he, surprised to mark 

How swiftly vanished every trace 

Of passion so tempestuous, dark ; 

Its shadow floating off a face 

Where, sooth to say, at any time 

It seemed as alien, out of place, 
As some great prey-bird's, haply seen, 
Not mid the awful regions where he breeds, 
Sky-sweeping mountains, towering peaks sublime, 
But in a land with daisied lawns and meads 
And rippling seas of poppied corn serene. 



VII. 

And all her story soon was told ; 
How she had left Mokoia's isle 
That central in the lake alone 
Rose high — a bristling mountain-hold, 
With fort and fosse — a dark green boss 
On that bright shield of azure-stone — 
Had left the isle, the time to while 
With one companion in her light canoe ', 
While in a larger came a fisher-crew 
She wiselier should have kept in view ; 
But they two of the sport had soon 
Grown weary in the glaring noon ; 
So landed, from the sun's attacks 
Their splendour-puckered eyebrows to relax 



1 6 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto i. 

In the refreshing grateful shade 

A clump of trees not distant made ; 

Thence to a spot amid the level hills 

Of Rangikahu, where a hotspring fills, 
Near a deserted settlement, 

A square stone-tank ('twas Miroa's whim), they went 
To boil some sweet roots which they found 
As they expected in a patch 
Of old abandoned garden-ground : 
That done, they strolled the forest through, 
And strolled to little purpose too ; 
Had tried a parrot for a pet to catch 
In vain ; had seen, by marshy glade 
Or woodside brake, look where they might, 
No tangle of convolvulus to twine 
Into rich coronals of cups aglow 
\ With deep rose-purple or delicate white 
' Pink-flushed as sunset-tinted snow ; 
\ No clematis, so lovely in decline, 
Whose star-flowers when they cease to shine 
Fade into feathery wreaths silk-bright 

And silvery-curled, as beauteous. And they knew 
The early season could not yet 
Have ripened the alectryon's beads of jet, 
Each on its scarlet strawberry set, 
Whence sweet cosmetic oils they press 
Their glittering blue-black hair to dress 
Or give the skin its velvet suppleness : 
So they had loitered objectless, 
And chaunting songs or chatting strayed 
Till by his rude associates met. 
Her simple story told, the Maid 
Asked in her turn the Wanderer's name ; 



canto i.] Ranolf and Amohia. 17 

Tried to pronounce it too — but still, 
With pretty looks of mock distress 
And scorn at her own want of skill, 
And tempting twisting lips, no stain 
Of tattoo had turned azure — found 
" Ranolf" too strange and harsh a sound 
For her harmonious speech to frame ; 
So after various efforts vain 
" Ranoro " it at last became, 
The nearest imitation plain 
Her liquid accents could attain. 
Thus, when at length they reached the shore, 
Had found and freed and comforted 
The damsel who at first had fled 
(Poor little Miroa, weeping sore), 
And launched the small canoe once more, 
'Twas with a farewell kind and gay 
She bade the stranger " Go his way;" 
'Twas with her radiant ready smile 
She started for the mountain-isle, 
Which then, one mass of greenish gold, 
Shone out in sharp relief and bold 
Against the further hills that lay 
In solemn violet-gloom — grim, dark and cold. 



VIII. 

So towards his tent his steps he bent ; 
Nor marvel if as home he went 
His thoughts to her would still recur : — 
— But Amohia ! what a glorious creature 
In every gesture, every feature ! 
Such melting brilliant eyes ! I swear 



1 8 Rojwlf and Amohia. [canto i. 

They cast a shadow from whate'er 
They rest upon ! I do believe they throw 
Such shifting circlets of soft light 
On what she looks at, as a sunbeam weaves 
On the green darkness of the noonday woods, 
Through chinks in the transparent leaves ! 
And then her hair ! to see it but unbound ! 

Such black abundant floods 
Of tresses making midnight all around 
For those twin stars to shine through ! while between 
In glimpses the fair neck was seen 
Just as at night upon those white 
And windheaped hummocks of glimmering sand— 
Thickflowing sand — so finely sifted 
By the gales whereby 'twas drifted — 
Soft patches of pale moonlight stand 
Beside their sable shadows. Then her teeth ! 
All things that most of whiteness boast 
How dull and dim beside them ! The far wreath 
Of snow upon those peaks eternal ; 
The sea-foam creaming round the coast — 
The wave-bleached shell upon it tost — 
No, none of these — perhaps the kernel 
Of a young cocoanut when newly broken 
Would best their blue-white purity betoken. 
But what were graces so inviting 
Without the soul — the spirit's charm 
That from some well of witchery internal 
Comes dancing up, delighted and delighting, 
Comes sparkling through them — bright and warm ! 

How frank and noble is her face ! 
And what a sunny pride and sweetness lies 
In those open brilliant eyes ! 



canto i.] Ranolf and Amohia. 19 

Her voice chimes like a merry bird's — 
How winning are her cheerful words ! 
With what a blithe and stately grace 
She drew her glistening flaxen mat, 

With chequered border decked, 
Into the hollows of her wavy form 

And stepped away erect ! 

A maiden of a million that ! " 

Strange power of Beauty ! in a moment's space 
It photographs itself upon the brain, 
And though with limnings soft as light, imprints, 
Burns in, such deep encaustic tints, 

The finest line, the tenderest stain, 

No future impress can displace, 

No wear and tear of Time efface. 



20 Ranolf and Amolria, [canto u. 



CANTO THE SECOND. 



i. 

But this " Ranoro " — Ranolf— who was he ? — 
Let us a brief while turn aside and see. 

Sprung from a race of hardy mountaineers — 
At the remote extreme of Britain's isle, 
Where rugged capes confront the Arctic sky, 
Now faint beneath the pale and tender smile 
Of Summer's lingering light that sadly cheers ; 
Now through rent chasms of the storm-cloud's pile 
Seen lurking lone in grim obscurity ; 
Where whirlpools boil, and eddying currents scar 
The tides that sweeping from the Atlantic far 
In finest season at their gentlest flow 
Swarm up a thousand rocks, shoot high in air — 
Columns of cloud a moment towering clear — 
Then sink at once plumb-down and disappear, 
While all the shining rocksides, black and bare, 
Are streaked with skeiny streams of hurrying snow 
Like stormers beaten back that headlong go ; — 
There was he born ; did there his childhood pass 
Mid wastes of purple moor and green morass. 



canto ii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 21 

His father, last of a long race decayed 
Of pastoral chiefs, when all their land was gone 
Had manlike set himself to humbler trade ; 
And something more than competence had made 
From calcined kelp, and that free-splitting stone 
Which in sea depths or silent cliffs, unknown 
A thousand centuries, unquarried lay- 
Stored up and fashioning for the future beat 
And ceaseless tramp of busy millions' feet 
In that enormous World-Mart far away ; 
But most from fisheries, filling all the bays 
With ruddy shifting sails in sun or haze, 
When rippling loud, with myriad gleam and glance 
And rustling shiver o'er its wide expanse, 
The liquid mass of seething Ocean seemed 
Quickened to silvery life that one way streamed. 

Such sights and sounds inspired the growing Boy 
With wondering exultation ; and the joy 
Of deeper thought and loftier feeling lent 
To the mere gladness of temperament. 
But books and fancy and old fishers' tales 
Of glorious climes beyond these mists and gales 
Soon made the youngster restless — stirred his blood 
With impulses resistless, such as drive 
That insect-dragon scaly-winged to strive 
And struggle through his chasmed channel's mud, 
And reckless dash into the splendour-flood, 
The new wide pool of light he feels and sees ; 
Such longings, as, when Summer's searching heats 
Find out the butterflies in their retreats, 
They yearn with, till, unvexed by any breeze 
The velvet-winged ones at her sweet command, 
Sole, or in slow-revolving twos and threes 



Ranolf and AmoJiia. [canto ii. 

Float in a crimson flutter through the land. 
Thus the Boy fevered till his sire's consent 
He gained to gratify his natural bent 
Towards sailor life, and follow o'er the main, 
Although the favourite son, his brethren twain. 
So from his schools, and tasks, and tutors free, 
Away he went at twelve years old to Sea. 



But what preceptor like the mighty Ocean 
To kindle thought and manifold emotion ? 

Majestic in its every form, 
Stupendous calm or terror of the storm ; 

For ever to the dullest sense 

A symbol of Omnipotence ; 

Yet like that Oriental notion, 

That Deity of old devotion, 
Omnipotence so lightly roused to ire, 

And fickle as a flame of fire. 

And with this fierce Sublimity, despite 
The terrors of its treacherous might, 

Its ruthless rage or sleek perfidious play, 

As 'twere with some tremendous beast of prey 

Half-tamed, the Sailor lives from day to day, 

Lives cautiously familiar, hour by watchful hour 
For ever in its presence — in its power. 

But what a hardy pride his bosom warms 

The while he runs the gauntlet through the storms, 

Playing with such a foe in wary strife 

A match whereof the forfeit is his life, 



canto ii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 23 

The gain, more than his own, another's pelf; 
With such apparent odds against himself, 
The seeming desperation of the game 
Hardens the coarser soul it cannot tame 
Into a blind oblivion of the morrow, 
A stoic mirth that laughs at vice and sorrow ; 
While he of nobler mind and loftier aim 
Is nursed by consciousness of danger, still 
Escaped by foresight or subdued by skill, 
Into a calm unboastful strength of will, 
A sober self-reliance, firm and grave ; 
And feels as o'er vast Ocean's baffled wave 
Triumphantly he steers from clime to clime 
Elate with something of its own sublime. 

And many a vacant hour, on many a theme, 
Our thoughtful Sea-boy found to muse or dream ; 
Those vigils which the sailor needs must keep 
In the sky-girt seclusion of the Deep ; 
Oft when the playful billows, lightly curled, 
Run past the ship, and quiet seems, as sleep, 
The lone retreat that roams about the world — 
That white-wdnged monastery moving still 
Of rugged celibates against their will ; 
Or when in darkness, towards her goal unseen, 
On moonless midnights mournfully serene, 
She seems, as by some instinct, self-inspired, 
Still pressing on her eager quest untired ; 
While, the obscurely-branching clouds between, 
Crossed stays and braces — silent rocking spars 
Seem mingling dimly with the dancing stars ; 
Or when, if steady-breathing trade-winds blow, 
No shift of sails for days required, the crew 



24 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto ii. 

About the deck their quiet tasks pursue ; 
The dragging sail with rudely-skilful hands 
They patch, or splice the rope's stiff-plaited strands, 
Or twirl with balanced backward steps and slow 
The whizzing yarn, still pondering as they go 
The long-drawn tale it types of blended joy and woe ; 
Or when, her topsails squared, with plunging ease, 
The ship goes reeling right before the breeze ; 
And he who has the watch, relaxing now, 
May lean and mark, with thoughts far elsewhere, how 
The bowsprit weaves great circles on the sky — 
Down sinks the deck with all its life — up fly 
The wide horizon and dark Ocean's plain ; 
And then the buoyant deck ascends again : 
While speeding after, ever and anon, 
A huge blue watery hill comes roaring on, 
Tiger-like, open-mouthed, in furious chase ; 
But near the flying stern with slackened pace, 
And lowered crest, seems first disposed to see 
What the strange winged Leviathan may be 
That dares amid these boisterous brawlers stray ; 
And, fearful the encounter to essay, 
Falls back in a broad burst of foam, and hissing slinks away. 

No lack of change each feeling to employ ! 
How his eyes widened with a solemn joy 

When on some witching night 
The jutting corner of the gibbous Moon — 

A golden buoy 
That weltered in a sable sea of cloud 

(One level mass extending wide, 

The firmament all bare beside) — ■ 
Shed an obscure and ominous light, 



canto ii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 25 

And fitful gusts scarce dared to moan aloud : 

How was the heart-leap of his exultation 

Sustained — sublimed by thrilled imagination 
When, if a storm came veiling all the noon, 

Old Ocean, rising in gigantic play, 

Marshalled his multitudinous array 

Of waves tumultuous into ridges gray, 
And sent them whirling on their headlong way, 

Host after host of crested cavalry 
Charging in lines illimitable, urged 
By trumpet winds whose deafening bray 
Drowned the sharp hiss of myriad-lancing spray, 
Into the horrible white gloom profound 
That gathered, thickened all around ! 
And when the dimness of the squall was gone, 

Haply, to some far region bound, 
The great whale went majestically by — 
Plunging along his mighty course alone, 

Into the watery waste unknown ; 
Cleaving with calm, deliberate speed, 
The battling waves he would not heed; 

While at long intervals upthrown 
Successive jets of spouted brine, 
Decreasing with the distance, in a line, 

Told how he ne'er diverged 
An instant from his haughty path 
Into the black heart of the tempest's wrath, 
That like dense smoke before him scowled, 
For all the clamorous coil of winds that howled 
And waves that leapt around him as he past 
And flung his foamy banner to the blast. 



26 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto ii. 



hi. 
But with these Ocean-scenes the Sea-boy fed 
On others fruitful both for heart and head; 
Had glimpses of strange lands and men as strange ; 
Saw with each clime their minds and manners change 
Learnt how on God by various names they call, 
While God's great smile shines equally on all ; — 
Allah, unimaged, One ; Brahma, Vishnu, 
And Siiva — monster-imaged One in Three ; 
Ormusd — ' Ahuramasda ' — name profound — 
1 Living I Am ' — that splendour ! One of Two 
At war — dark Ahriman his throne invading, 
Piercing with evil first the shell so sound, 
His cosmic Egg-of-Order's perfect round ; — 
Manitou, mistlike with his pipewhiff fading ; — 
Buddha — prince, mystic, moralist — at last 
Made God for teaching that no God can be : — 
Arab — Hindu — Red Indian — Jew — Parsee ; 
Chinese Joss-beater, little reverent, too — 
That cracker-loving creature of the past — 
Blithe spirit — soul a lifeless leaden cast ; 
Who with high-sublimated Gods, a store, 
His Buddha, Fo — Confutzee's Tien — Taou 
That pure God-Intellect of Lao-tse, 
Breathes blinding fog — Convention-fixed of yore — 
Of grossest superstition. "With the rest, 
The necromancing negro of the West, 
The terrorist of Obeah. These he scanned ; 
And many a charm on each delightful land 
Lavished by Art's or liberal Nature's hand : 
Inhaled the breath that through dense mist distils 
From green spruce woods and all the sea-air fills 



canto ii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 27 

With sweet sour odours from Canadian hills : 

Dwelt with enraptured gaze on Hindostan's 

Umbrageous bowers of spice and spreading fans, 

And glistening ribbon-leaves and arching plumes ; 

Her starry palms and sacred peepuls set 

On many-fingered roots, a snaky net ; 

Or propping their highroofed magnificence 

On pendent pillars ; clustering gorgeous glooms 

Whence pointed domes of marble mosques and tombs 

Emerge — from that deepbosoming defence 

Blackgreen — into the burning atmosphere ; 

Or gilt pagodas rise above the shade 

Like spires of thick cardoon-leaves closely laid, 

All in blue tanks reflected, still and clear. 

Or else that tropic Isle of Springs entranced 

The lad — who revelled in its noonday glare 

And silence deep, so tremulously hot — 

So gently interrupted when it chanced 

M sudden and soft fluttering in the air, 

Like silverpaper rumpled, startlingly 

Whispered some flying rainbow-fragment nigh, 

Darting in downy purple golden-shot ; 

Or, as suspended by his long bill's tip 

On viewless wings a-quiver poised, to sip 

A crimson cactus-bloom — the honied dew 

Which from that silky breast, so fit in hue 

And texture fine, the airy suckling drew. 

Safely that land of merry slaves he saw 

Late ruined by a half-completed law ; 

When thoughtless theorists had flung aside 

The evil bonds by ancient Custom tied, 

Nor better bonds they wore themselves, supplied ; 

Had left to tyrannies of grovelling sense 



28 Ranclf and Amohia. [canto h. 

The victims of their vain benevolence ; 
Left them still basely free from forethought, care, 
And loftier loads the self-dependent bear ; 
Left them untaught to welcome Labour's pains, 
More nobly slaves to all a freeman's chains ; 
To feel, the highest freedom all can reach 
Is but the highest self-restraint of each ; 
True freedom is a grave and sober thing, 
With loyalty to Right crowned inward king ; 
While laws of Duty made despotic, make 
The only freedom mobs nor kings can break. 



IV. 

So four years passed : to him a happy time. 

Meanwhile his brothers both in youthful prime 

Had perished ; one, the pest of that fair clime, 

The demon lurking in its loveliness, 

The yellow fever's swiftly-withering flame 

Had caught up and consumed : and that distress 

Scarce over, from the Storm-Cape tidings came 

Doubtful, which soon for doubt left little room, 

The other must have met as sharp a doom — 

Himself, his ship and shipmates whirled away 

In Ocean's wild tempestuous embrace 

To some unknown unfathomable Tomb. 

Then did the anguish-smitten Father pray 

The youngest, last remaining of his race 

To leave a calling where such risks were rife, 

And live at home, his age's staff and stay. 

So, with what grace he might, though grieving sore, 

The stripling gave his dutiful consent 



canto ii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 29 

Henceforth to follow some pursuit ashore, 
Where Death, the Shade that dogs the steps of Life, 
Upon his prey though equally intent, 
Because less startling, seems less imminent. 

v. 
To tutors now and long-left tasks restored, 
The sea-emboldened, self-reliant Boy 
Soon grew enamoured of his new employ. 
And many things those tutors never meant 
Into a mind of such inquiring bent 
His classics and his metaphysics poured. 
But most he loved, could ne'er enough adore 
The Godlike spirit of that grand Greek lore 
That first taught Man his glorious being's height \ 
Taught him to stand, the Universe before, 
Erect in moral, intellectual might, 
And brave, in strength of Soul, the adverse infinite. 
How would their strains his kindling bosom warm, 
Those daring darling Poets, who enshrined 
The freest Spirit in the purest Form — 
In matchless Beauty such consummate Mind. 
How would he triumph with the Theban Maid 
Who, in no armour but instinctive sense, 
The panoply of conscious right, arrayed, 
Her lofty sentiment her sole defence, 
Risked all the murderous rage of tyrant force 
To snatch a burial for a brother's corse ; 
Though all the gods — all worldly wisdom's saws, 
All cherished loves and all Convention's laws, 
Denounced herself and spurned her holy cause. 
Antigone could teach him that the test 
Of right and wrong lay in his own free breast ; 



30 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto ii. 

That right was right, despite high-seated wrong 
And throned Authority by Custom strong ! 
That Man of all external aid bereft, 
Had still himself and staunch endurance left ; 
Could stand above all Circumstance elate 
And trust high Nature in the fight with Fate. 

And when he read the agonizing cries 
That vulture-tortured Giant in the skies 
Utters in deathless and sublime despair, 
Doomed for his love to Man that woe to bear ; 
And all the sad majestic converse, round 
The pinnacles of Caucasus snow-crowned, 
Swelling like solemn Music, and again 
Dying along the illimitable air, 
As, one by one, supernal visitants 
Come floating up to watch the ghastly pants 
And writhings of the Titan, and with vain 
Compassion, taunts — temptations vainer still — 
Assail his grand unconquerable Will, 
And bid him break his voluntary chain, 
Abandon Man, scorn that vicarious pain, 
And hail the gloomy Tyrant's selfish reign ; 
When all the student's sense of justice rose, 
Stirred by the dauntless Poet's great appeal, 
In wrath against the author of such woes, 
And his young heart would passionately feel 
For the doomed donor of the god-wrung fire ; 
Think you he ne'er was tempted to inquire, 
Was that outworn Olympian rule of Zeus 
The only tyranny men called divine ? 
Was there no other nature-startling use 
Of absolute power — no other punishment 
Of love, inflicted on the innocent 



canto ii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 

At which instinctive Justice would repine ? 

But most his soul was wonderstruck to see 

To what a height humanity could reach 

In that divinest hemlock-drinker — he 

Who welcomed Death less evil than the breach 

Of fealty to his country's laws, or scant 

Reliance on the faith he came to teach ; 

The truths his nature forced him to proclaim — 

The necessary outcome of his frame, 

Mental and moral — by the innate law 

Of evolution for its excellence 

Provided — as inevitable thence, 

As from the sap of each peculiar plant 

The special blossom earth and air must draw — 

Trust absolute in the perfect Power above, 

His perfect goodness ; and what these must prove 

(For with the ill around, what other just 

Conclusion could he reach, with such a trust ?) 

That sole relief of every human want, 

Soother and solace of the general sigh — 

The soul's unbodied immortality. 

And where was ever a sublimer page 

Than that which paints the Godsent Prophet-Sage 

Cheerily urging with his latest breath 

His lofty creed upon his weeping barid 

Of friends — his very gaoler too, unmanned ; 

Then standing forth, and with dilating eyes, 

That look straightforward — bold and calm — ' bullw 

Into the dread Eternity so nigh, 

With one libation to the gods on high, 

Drinking the Elixir both of life and death ! 

And as the deadly influence upward stole 

And sobs broke forth he could no more console, 



$2 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto ii. 

Lifting the mantle from his failing sight, 
Just ere his soaring spirit winged its flight, 
To make with accents faint his last bequest — 
While haply in those eyes supreme o'er pain 
A moment's humorous glimmer shone again — 
That votive cock to the medicinal God 
Of herbs — his soul's last evidence to be 
Of joy at shaking off this mortal clod, 
And his triumphant gratitude attest 
To one whose potent drug had set him free. 

VI. 

Next with uprooting Metaphysics toyed 

The youth— their tangled subtleties enjoyed; 

Nor, as his tutors counselled would confine 

His tasks to careworn, truth-adoring Locke ; 

Eager to learn what " paying out more line " 

Where Locke had cast it, led to — solid rock, 

Mud, quicksand, or the fathomless profound. 

The more line ran, more depth there seemed to sound. 

It took him, as you know, to that rare creed, 

Etherial, beautiful — the fertile seed, 

First dropped by Locke, our goodly Bishop caught 

And sowed and reared into rich food for thought, 

Heavy with ears of amaranthine gold 

That yet may yield their glorious hundred-fold. 

" All possible ideas are mere sensations, 

Or our reflections on them," Locke insists ; 

" But half the first are Sense's own creations, 

No faithful types of what in truth exists ; 

Not in the rose the red, nor in light-rays 

Its texture splits, but in the eyes that gaze ; 

Not in the fire, but in our frames, the heat ; 



canto ii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 33 

Not in the honey, but our tongues the sweet ; 

Not in the thunder, but our ears, the roar ; 

These are impressions on the brain — no more : 

But form, solidity, extension, power 

To move or rest, are Matter's genuine dower, 

Her real outside existence." " Nay — pursue 

Your doubt," cries Berkeley; " probe them through 

and through, 
And you will find these qualities you flatter 
Yourself you prove essential in this Matter, 
No more substantial than its red and blue." 
And then the mighty mitred Analyst, 
Silk-aproned but sincere Psychologist 
And Sage — by few believed, by all beloved, 
With subtlest power "unanswerably proved, 
What no man in his senses can admit," 
(The phrase of little truth and not much wit, 
Is Reid's — though Hume had first acknowledged it) 
Proved that all things we hear, see, feel around, 
Have no such base as Matter — only hold 
Existence in pure Spirit — their sole ground : 
Forces are they, from Infinite Mind proceeding, 
Spiritually active, wheresoe'er it be, 
On finite mind to print, in order due, 
Sensations, not deceptive nor misleading — 
But spiritual coin as spiritual Coiner, true, 
And real with Spirit's sole reality. 
So Berkeley said and proved his flawless case. 
But Hume came sliding in with smiling face, 
Veiling the grimmest strength in easy grace ; 
The pleasant playful Giant — gentle Chief 
Of sceptics, dealing blows without a sign 
Of effort — slashing with a sword so fine — 

3 



34 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto n. 

Killing with lightning-touches bright and brief ; 
So wise, so good ; whose adversaries found 
His silken glove a Cestus iron-bound, 
When staggering all the gladiator press 
He proved — or seemed to prove — to their distress 
And ours, that Thought itself and Consciousness 
Had no such base as Mind — which only meant 
Trains of impressions and ideas that went 
And came in nothing — neither more nor less ; 
For no recipient spirit could be perceived, 
And Matter was already gone and shent ; 
And he had settled to his own content 
(To such a dogma, ye who can, consent ! ) 
No Cause did ever yet produce Effect 
However Custom may the two connect. 
Therefore for pictures we within us find, 
No Power without — above — of any kind 
Need be, or could be, as their cause assigned. 
So must we Matter, Mind, God, Soul, alike 
Out of the ranks of real existence strike : 
And yet as Mind and Matter both, without 
Or spite of Reason, must be still believed — 
Nature took care of that — that much achieved — 
The only clear conclusion was dim Doubt. 

Thus Locke by Berkeley — Berkeley thus by Hume, 

Was pounced on in retributive swift doom, 

Hand over hand, as children play, so pat, 

Each crushing his great predecessor flat : 

So swiftly hurried down the eddying tide 

Of speculation which began to flow 

In the far East three thousand years ago 

When doubting dusky Sages threw aside 



canto ii.] Ranolf mid Amolna. 35 

Their faith in those symbolic wheelspoke arms 

And double heads of deities of Ind ; 

And some mild paddy-fed pale-blooded crew 

Of subtle theorists argued nought was true, 

Nought real but Brahma — him in whom inhere 

All magic-lantern shadows that appear 

As living shapes in this illusive sphere. 

Then Brahma's essence, subtilised and thinned, 

In Kapila's self-styled " Perfect Wisdom " grew 

To Absolute Spirit — Thinking Substance pure 

And abstract as that pure unworldly Jew, 

The spiritual Spinoza, ever drew. 

But earlier still, in wild recoil more sure 

From Brahmin tyranny of creed and caste, 

The o'er-refming Orient fancy passed 

To dreams the maddest ever Reasoning spun, 

In that high-moralled faith that still has charms 

(Because its founder's self, made God, replaced 

And vivified so soon for vulgar taste 

The No-God he had taught) to sway such swarms, 

Dusk Aryan and Turanian tawny-skinned ; 

That fullest-millioned Faith beneath the Sun, 

Which Sakya Muni — princely eremite — 

First saddened into — sickened with the sight 

Of sorrow and pain inseparable seeming 

From life — his own a pleasure-sated blight 

With high desire forlornly through it gleaming ; 

So with a proud deliberate despair 

Conceived his monstrous method of redeeming, 

By guiding, souls back to their primal night 

Of non-existence ; which his pupil and friend 

Kasyapa teaches they already share, 

Therein are based — begin — and ought to end ; 



36 Ranolf and Amo/u'a. [canto ii. 

Nor rests, like Hume, content in doubt to pause, 
But from his metaphysic " Basket " draws 
Negation of all spirit — God — first cause — 
Brahma or Absolute Being — all and each 
Creator and created — matter— mind — 
Alike chimeras ; wisdom's highest reach 
To know this nothingness ; the soul's true aim 
To lose existence and partake the same ; 
Extinguished then, with consciousness consigned 
To darkness — blown out like a taper's flame, 
To enter so " Nirvana " — there to be 
Absurdly blest with blank Nonentity. 

VII. 

Well — posed with that result of logic-fence, 

Our student tried the school of Common Sense. 

But soon the irreverent youth came bouncing thence: 

"What," cried he, "is it not a false pretence 

That makes of Metaphysics but a name, 

And theirs to Science a preposterous claim 

Who dare their doughty reasoning begin 

By begging — nay, with beggars' impudence 

Demanding the one point at issue here ; 

The only one that Logic seemed to hurt — 

Dare for superior density assert 

The victory their acuteness could not win ? 

O Reid and Brown, my crafty friends ! 'tis clear 

You found when sorely gravelled by this Hume 

'Twas harder far to prove than to assume ; 

An easier feat for souls of sluggish pace 

To seize the palm-wreath than to run the race ; 

Boldly to claim the stakes — while beaten they 

Throw up the game their business 'tis to play ! " 



canto ii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 37 



VIII. 

How gladly then he roved from such chopped hay 
To fields that seemed all clover, green and gay 
Though hedged with worse than Indian orange-thorns — 
Sharp subtleties for Doubt's intrusive horns. 
Did not those free-souled Germans point the way 
To regions bathed in Truth's unclouded day ? 
Where Knowledge hampered by no faintest trace 
Of Doubt might soar secure in pride of place, 
And Faith fold Science in a fond embrace ? 
Did not great Kant in pedant's jargon show, 
As mathematic truths from Reason — so 
Do moral from the inborn Conscience flow 
By mere necessity ? — those mightier facts 
And fixed conditions in which Reason acts — 
The Soul — the Universe — but pre-suppose 
And force you to the grand Idea behind 
Whence both must spring, wherein are both combined — 
To God — the source of all that thinks or knows, 
All Being's boundless origin and close ? 
Was not that cold, cloud- cleaving Aeronaut, 
Potent, with swoln balloon of subtlest thought, 
With Logic's self, triumphantly to lift 
Man's deathless Hope into an atmosphere 
Serene above the wayward dust and drift 
Of Logic — from Sensation's vapours clear ? 
Did not poor Faith, doubt-prest from shift to shift, 
Find a safe refuge in that " Reason pure ? " 
Trusting ensconced in Science so obscure — 
A pachydermatous Philosophy 
Of scarce pronounceable hard names, to be 
Both scoff and sceptic proof : and might not she, 

-J- 



$8 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto h. 

That lofty Hope, in such environment 

Of prickly briars of Thought — a tangle rude — 

Sit like the Beauty in the long-charmed wood, 

Secure — supreme — inviolable ? pent 

In hard, repellent reasonings that defy 

Assault — and there kept living safe and sound, 

Like bright-eyed toad with rock encompassed round ; 

Buried in chaff of dialectics dry, 

A chrysalis (like that with reeled-off floss, 

Bared of its dress, all amber gleam and gloss, 

The careful schoolboy hides in homely bran) 

Whence a new Psyche should emerge for Man ? 

Like Psyche's self, say — from blue Italy 

Prepared to cross the rude rough-handling sea, 

Laid up in wood and iron, sound and safe 

In naked beauty from all chance of chafe — 

So closely presses round her spiritual face 

And limbs of tender marble and white grace, 

The hard-caked sawdust of her packing-case. 

But, O conclusion lame and impotent ! 

O rage of vigorous reasoning vainly spent ! 

Those great ideas — Time, Space and Cause — 'tis plain, 

Though notions connate with the nascent brain, 

Have in essential fact no solid ground — 

Only within the human soul are found ; 

Though necessary bases of our thought 

Are from no prototypes beyond us brought ! 

That God is but a sort of ghost confined 

To haunt the shadowy chambers of the mind ! 

As if within a glass-roofed palace grew 

Some strange grand Tree of mystic shape and hue, 

With various virtues wondrously arrayed — 



canto ii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 39 

With mighty fronds and majesty of shade, 
And towering crest sufficiently sublime ; 
Within those vitreous walls compelled, no doubt, 
By nature's laws luxuriantly to sprout, 
But with no fellow — no resemblance known, 
Or able to exist in any clime 
Mid the green glories of the world without ; 
A most magnificent, yet monstrous cheat, 
• Proud overgrowth of artificial heat, 
And that peculiar edifice alone. 
" Why, if this God's a product of our own, 
Which ends in us, though there perforce it breeds, 
A doubtful light which but to darkness leads," 
Our student thought — " what waste of toil and time, 
These more than acrobatic feats to climb 
Such crags precipitous, such slippery heights, 
Where no rewarding view our toil requites ; 
No vision of the City long-desired, 
Though brief as that in Moslem myths — perchance 
Seen standing — sudden — silent — sunrise-fired, 
Before the desert-wanderer's awestruck glance, 
Far stretching multitudinous array 
Of gilded domes and snowy minarets, 
And tiers of long arcades, rich-roofed with frets 
More delicate than frostwork ! then, again, 
Gone — vanished ! and a hundred years in vain 
Resought, but gladdening nevermore the day ; 
Not e'en such glimpse, O mighty Kant ! — at most 
When we have reached your height at so much cost, 
In densest fog we see a finger-post, 
You say directs us to that City fair ; 
But is no proof of any City there ! 



40 Rajiolf and Amohia. [canto n. 

Some letters on its arms obscurely seen • 

Your spectacles discover • what they mean, 

In worse than three-tongued wedge-rows sealed up fast, 

We have to take from you on trust at last. 

" And, then, that ' Reason practical ' — that creed 
Of Action that its own high laws must breed ; 
' Will must be free, whatever you may prove ; 
Run where it lists, yet always in a groove — ' 
Why, we are drifting back to Brown and Reid S " 



IX. 

So to that Spirit erect and pure, he next 
Resorted (with these fancied failures vexed) 
The march majestic and the genuine ring 
Of whose high eloquence on one high theme, 
How best aloft the expanded soul may wing 
Her way, and best sustain her flight supreme — 
Had all the warranty a life could bring, 
The faithful mirror of his faith — sublime 
In self-dependent stateliness severe, 
And steadfast single eminence of aim ; — 
Fichte — whose name recalls a dearer Fame — 
A trenchant towering Spirit as grand and true ! 
Of those who think, profoundest and the prime ; 
He whose capacious soul's ascending Sphere 
Oft looms obscure while flashing brightness through 
Dull mists it kindles till they disappear ; 
Who, rolling back the ponderous stone of Time, 
Makes the dead Past, upstarting from the gloom, 
In Truth's rough Poesy lightning-bathed, outbloom 
The living Present, whose loud shams — with might 



canto ii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 41 

And hammer like his own white-knuckled Trior's, 

And love that for the culprit's sake abhors 

The crime, — his prophet-hand was sent to smite ! — ■ 

Fichte— great voice to rouse, great heart to cheer ! 

This greater could not hear it and not leap 

In unison, " Deep calling unto Deep " — 

Could not from such a credence and career 

Withhold the dower of his undying praise ; 

Which saw therein the far-reflected gleam 

Of high-endeavouring old illustrious days — 

Heard solemn echoes or the etherial flow 

Of Attic pacings of the Portico 

And whispers from the groves of Academe, 

Where Truth alone by sages world-renowned 

Was sought, and made Life's rule at once when found ; — 

Fichte struck out once more for truths that shine 

Instinctive and immediately divine. 

In consciousness is all of God we know ; 

But consciousness proclaims him ; neither dim 

Nor doubtful He ; all Being's source and stream ; 

Nature exists in us, and we in Him. 

For " Me " and " Not-Me "—Universe and Soul 

Are one — not two — and Consciousness the whole : 

Nature its passive, Soul its active side ; 

In Consciousness are both contained — allied ; 

And from the Soul though Nature takes its rise, 

It limits none the less and modifies 

That worker, whose material it supplies ; 

Spirit is all — and Matter there is none 

But part and product of the Soul alone. 

And what ideal does Consciousness proclaim 

As all we know of Him whom " God " we name ? — 

That active principle, which clearly seen 



42 Ranolf and AmoJiia. [canto ii. 

Is working out, whatever intervene, 

The triumph in the Universe and Man, 

Of all that's useful, beautiful, and good \ 

That Force which forwards its consummate plan 

Of progress endless towards the perfect Day 

Of moral Order's universal sway ; 

And to the Soul above all tumult cries 

Of one high Duty still to be pursued, 

With that " Divine Idea" to harmonise 

The Will, and all its faculties subdued 

Into devout co-operative mood, 

Press forward freely to the ennobling prize. 

High thoughts ! yet haply Hindu still ; so like 

The course — nor much unlike the goal — to those 

The later Buddhists for the soul propose, 

Dropping the dreary nihilistic phases 

Of Sakya's faith too purely insane to strike 

The fancy of the myriads, else its foes ; 

Backsliding into healthier dreams and brighter, 

In Burmah or Nepaul ; or such as lie 

Obscurely hidden in the mystic cry, 

The shaveling in red robes and yellow mitre, 

In snowy Thibetan devoutly raises 

At Lama-ridden Lhassa, when he phrases 

In one short shibboleth his prayers and praises : 

" Gem in the Lotus-flower, Amen ! " whereby 

He breathes his aspiration to proceed — 

His soul's intense desire to wing its flight 

Through iEons of blest Being — height o'er height, 

Till evermore suffused with purer light 

It merge — from death, disease, old age and need, 

And all the griefs of gross existence freed, — 



canto ii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 43 

Perfect, in Buddha's Soul — its boundless meed — 

Absorbed in that All-perfect Infinite ! — 

A heterodox " Nirvana," worthier far 

By ages of vast virtue to be won ; 

No ' taper-flame blown out ' — a blissful star 

Lost in the splendour of the noonday sun. 



" True," thought the lad, " this Man was true, indeed ; 

A noble Teacher of a noble Creed ! 

But should a sage so lofty lapse again 

Towards pure assumption's unassured domain ? 

Revert to doubtful regions long resigned, 

Basing our Berkeley's Universe of Mind 

On Common Sense — though of a nobler kind 

Than puzzled Reid could for poor Matter find ? 

' What must be, must ' — ' It is because it is ' — 

Is proud Philosophy reduced to this ? 

Yet, to persuade us how the Soul may climb 

Triumphant o'er material Space and Time, 

Stronger than all that dialectic strife, 

His most convincing logic was his life ; 

Of truths the stern philosopher had taught 

Proof most profound, perhaps, the patriot brought, 

When, finishing his last great fight for God, 

And many a rapt impassioned period, 

Down from his desk the mighty Master came, 

Unmoved by murmur low, or plaudit loud, 

Or fervent blessing from the student-crowd ; 

And left the loved arena of his fame 

With shouldered musket in the ranks to stand, 

And fall or conquer for his Father-land." 



44 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto ii. 



Then Schelling plies the metaphysic ball, 

Which Reason's racket still will strike aloft 

To overfly Sensation's bounding wall, 

Though to the ground a thousand times it fall. 

Those two Ideas we prate about so oft, 

The Soul — the Universe — are really two, 

And are identified — O, not in you, 

Nor any finite Consciousness so small, 

But only in the Absolute — the All. 

Spirit is Matter that itself surveys ; 

And Matter, Spirit's un discerning phase ; 

They are the magnet's two opposing poles, 

And each the other balances — controls : 

Both in a centre of indifference rest, 

Which their essential being is confest : 

As in the magnet's every point — we see 

In all the works of Nature just these three ; 

But that which bounds them all and each degree, 

The Absolute — the Magnet's self — must be, 

Except at Being's most exalted height — 

Impersonal — unconscious — infinite ; 

For God — that Absolute — still strives in vain, 

In Nature's blind inferior works ; nor can 

In any form Self-Consciousness attain, 

Save in the highest reasoning power of Man, 

That central point, which Soul and Nature gain ;- 

Unconscious else the Universal Pan. 



Behold, then, three-and-twenty centuries passed, 
The stately Ship of Western Thought at last, 



canto ii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 45 

Striking and stranded on the barren shore 
Where struck that Buddhist bark so long before, 
Left high and dry with all its phantom freight ; 
Thither impelled by that satiric fate 
That dogs our intellectual pride, and brings 
Shipwreck with its conviction shallow and vain, 
That 'tis a stoim-charmed cruiser, this poor brain, 
Built, rigged, and manned to circumnavigate 
The mighty round of all existing things. 
So Schelling digs where Kasyapa had dug • 
Magniloquent, yet microscopic elf, 
So makes all Nature but the high-plumed hearse 
Of God gone dead ; so, whipping out his cord, 
O metaphysical and monstrous Thug ! 
Strangles Creation's life out ; in a word, 
Finding the Universe within himself, 
Leaves nought but Self within the Universe. 

" Alas ! " thought Ranolf, " were it wrong to call 

This the most drear of metaphysic dreams— 

The most revolting, mean result of all ? 

The Being, then, of highest worth it seems, 

Which that World-ghost, that blind and senseless force 

Evolves in its uncaused unconscious course, 

Is but this inefficient soul of ours — 

The one God, Man — for all his boasted powers 

A clay-clad, wingless, weak ephemeral, 

A worm upon this earth-speck doomed to crawl. 

Is he the sole Intelligence ? can he 

The crown and climax of all Being be 

Throughout that million-starred immensity ? 

Prove it by demonstration flawless, strong ; 

The wild conclusion proves some premiss wrong ; 



4.6 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto it. 

Absurd, as if those dwellers by old Nile 
Had, in mere Scarabeus-worship vile, 
Crowned with a beetle their great Pyramid — 
The Monarch Builder out of sight and hid." 



XI. 

To mystic depths and mistier. Hegel shrouds 

Himself and Faith in denselier-rolling clouds, 

Like Arab genie sore opprest in fight ; 

His splendour flashes through redoubled night. 

Thoughts are the same as Things ; and what is true 

Of one must be so of the other too ; 

So Non-existence, as a thought, must be 

Like pure Existence, a reality. 

Of Being absolute, and uncombined 

With qualities of any form or kind, 

What can we know or predicate aright ? 

Is not Non-being in the self-same plight ? 

The positive and negative descried 

In all things, must be these and nought beside ; 

For each Idea or Object (which you please — 

Both are the same) developes into these ; 

But these destroy and shut each other out, 

A negative is all they bring about : 

But as the idea is there, and must remain, 

That negative must be denied again. 

As Abstract Space, for instance, cannot be 

Conceived as boundless, or as bounded either ; 

Yet must be one, to be at all, you see, 

Then cannot be at all, because 'tis neither ; 

A negative that meets denial clear, 

For space is something after all, and here. 



canto il] Ranolf and Amohia. 47 

That last negation, then, the Idea revives, 

And real essential Being to it gives 

In the " Conditioned " where alone it lives. 

Those magnet-poles, the two extremes, are gone, 

And in the central point survive alone ; 

Object and Subject, Universe and Soul, 

Are in that centre, one and real, and whole ; 

Each in itself a nothing we may call, 

But their relation to each other — all. 

Like alkali and acid, they attract 

Each other, meet, and perish in the act — ■ 

The effervescence rests the only fact. 

So the " Becoming " — the immediate spring 

From Nought to Somewhat, is the vital thing ; — 

" Well, well ! " broke out our student here, " at least 

It cannot be denied this great High Priest 

Of metaphysic Mysteries, has the wit, 

The ant-lion boasts who scoops his coneshaped pit 

In subtlest sand, and there securely hides ; 

And when into the trap the victim slides, 

And strives in vain to climb the slipping sides, 

Down, deeper down, the crafty digger goes, 

And o'er his prey such blinding dust showers throws, 

He triumphs quickly, and the intruder draws 

Bewildered into those remorseless jaws." 

But when unflinching Hegel flatly laid 

The axiom down he would not have gainsaid, 

Disdaining compromise — dispute — or flout 

(Settling so coolly Hamlet's staggering doubt) 

" To Be is Not-to-be "—and " Not-to-be 

" To Be " — agree to that, or disagree, 

" 'Tis Logic's first great axiom, and most true ! " 

What could a youth with risible organs do, 



48 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto il 

At this, Philosophy's last grand exploit ? 
But " ding the book the distance of a quoit " 
Away, and with a shout of laughter loud, 
Take to his pipe and blow — as clear a cloud. 






canto hi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 49 



CANTO THE THIRD. 



1. 
For, as he whiffed and watched above his head 
The dainty spirals float and curl and spread, 
" Well then," he thought, " if we perforce must dub 
These German Giants with their Logic-club, 
Unwieldy champions much too prone to beat 
The air with ponderous weapons, to defeat 
Those agile Jacks of Science, or to screen 
From errant Knights of Scepticism keen 
The beauteous Truths they clumsily immure 
In cavern dim or castle-cage secure ; 
If, like the bristled monstrous minims seen 
To jerk and writhe and wriggle goggle-eyed 
Within the lighted circle on the wall 
Thrown by the microscopic lantern's sheen — 
These crabbed and cribbed Philosophers go near 
To craze, because the Apparent's magic sphere 
So hems them in ; and Hegel above all 
Seems, like the fabled Scorpion girt with fire, 
With his own logic-nippers to inflict 
A bite that kills himself, in mad desire 
And effort to escape from bonds so strict, 
That radiant round of the Phenomenal — 



Ranolf and Amohia. [canto hi. 

What then ? — the grand mysterious outside 
Is there — there still, and cannot be denied : 
Howe'er the thing we may define or name 
The ' Unapparent ' still exists the same. 

" For grant it may be made by reasoning plain 

That all the fair impressions on the brain 

Are not the pictures of such things around, 

Where no realities are like them found, 

But from those decorating Senses gain, 

In passing through them, all the dasdal dress 

Of qualities we fancy they possess, — 

' Not in the rose the red — nor in light-rays 

Its texture splits, but in the eyes that gaze ; 

Not in the thunder — honey — fire, the roar, 

The heat or sweetness we perceive ; all these 

Lie in the Sense that hears, tastes, feels or sees ; 

Well, it remains as certain as before 

The causes of these feelings lie without, 

Beyond us still \ for who pretends to doubt 

We do not, cannot of ourselves excite 

These manifold sensations ? — by what right 

Is it asserted, then, that outside sphere 

Of causes is not varied, powerful, bright 

And beautiful as aught we see or hear 

Or any way perceive within the Mind ? 

You say, ' Light — colour — sound — taste — smell, 

Are states of consciousness, but none can tell 

What in themselves they are ! ' So far 'tis well. 

' Nature in her insentient solitude 

But as eternal Darkness must be viewed, 

Eternal Silence.' Wherefore thus decide ? 

What if your bold conclusion be denied ? 



canto in. J Ranolf and Amohia. 5 1 

- The Light is in ourselves ' say you — 
Well, so must be the Darkness too. — 
' All Nature dark without the eye, 
Silent without the ear ! ' But why ? 
The Silence and the Darkness you must own 
Are our alternatives alone, 

Not Nature's ! — when the Light and Sound are gone 
From us, the causes of the Sound and Light, 
Are these effaced because they cease to smite 
Our organs ? or must these become the same 
Ceasing to act upon our consciousness, 
As what within that consciousness is left 
When ceasing to be acted on?— the things we name 
Silence and Darkness ? states we feel, bereft 
Of those mysterious agents that no less 
Are active — glorious — infinite — divine — 
Ever impulsive — eager to impress 
On other Souls whom other organs bless, 
Say (for their nature none of course can guess) 
Lights gorgeous, jewel-tinted, more than shine 
For us — for our beholding all too fine ; 
And melodies of such entrancing tone 
As would outravish all to mortal music known ! 
What ! make the wondrous Universe depend 
On our perceptions — there begin and end ? 
Must Senses like our own exhaust its powers ? 
May there not be more Senses too than ours ? 
Does the Sun cease to be a Sun, and die, 
Hurled from his throne in yon majestic Sky, 
Whene'er the Worm that grooves the flowery fret 
Of pulpit-work — or Spider at his net 
On some rose-knotted oak-carved canopy 
Within a great Cathedral's gloom and grace — 



52 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto hi. 

May lose the few faint rays it feels through panes 

That serve to bound, e'en while they brighten, all 

Its tiny being's scant-accorded space — 

Dim rays half quenched in that transparent pall, 

Yet rainbow-rich with saintly blazonry 

And dusky with a wealth of Angel-stains ? 

n. 

" Well ! if this non-apparent Something still 
Exists, nay seems the Universe to fill, 
Producing all we are and all we know ; 
And if its Sphere be such, the human brain 
Must never hope an entrance to obtain 
For Science to its wonders — overthrow 
Or undermine its jealous walls — or gain 
At least some glimpses of the fair domain — 
By observation or deduction slow, 
By force of Intellect — perhaps too poor 
A tool to burst the Imperial Palace-door — 
(Though I for one will never cease to think 
The endlessly-expanding sphere allowed 
To Man's Experience must one day supply 
Some solid basis, starting-point or link — 
Though many a thousand years it take, whereby 
Science Demonstrative shall pierce the cloud 
And back with glittering spoil come laden gloriously ! ) 
But if this may not be, what then is clear ? 
What is the worst we then should have to fear ? 
Why, to confess, that Supernatural sphere, 
That Unapparent region, must be such, 
For Intellect thereon to logicise, 
Would be to try rich colours with the touch 
Or test melodious sounds with keen bright eyes — 



canto in.] Ranolf and Amohia. 53 

As Dante's heard the sculptured Widow's speech — 

On that white frieze-like Purgatorial bank 

Whose end each way his eyesight could not reach — 

Ask death for her son's murderer as she sank 

At Trajan's feet, and ceased not to beseech 

Till his roused virtue had vouchsafed her prayer ; 

Then saw the sound of visible replies 

The marble Emperor made her voiceless cries. 

That feat we would not ape, but rather dare 

Confess that in an atmosphere so rare 

The leaden wing of Logic cannot rise ; 

That by Emotion, not Reflection, best 

The Soul is borne aloft in that fine air — 

Feeling, not Thought, her fiery chariot there ! 

The highest Sentiment were then confest 

The base whereon the highest Truth must rest 

True till a higher Truth were felt or found 

And by the beating hearts of men around 

As such accepted — welcomed — honoured — crowned ; 

Still raised, refined, as Science purged away 

What films of Error might obscure its ray ; 

Aught from that lower realm that might alloy 

Its gold, would Logic fasten on — destroy ; 

And everything she honestly disproved, 

Must be relinquished — howsoe'er beloved. 

in. 
" One truth we feel is safe at least — that Mind 
Was ne'er by Matter compassed — caused — designed; 
Or any chance or law, unconscious — thoughtless — blind. 
No Logic e'er can prove — no healthy brain 
The monstrous opposite can entertain : 
Intelligence must have a Cause — 'tis plain ; 



54 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto hi 

And so the Mind is framed, it must consent, 
That Cause must be itself intelligent. 



"Nor much avails the talk against ' Design.' 
True, to use means, consider and contrive 
And step by step slow towards an end to strive, 
Has more in it of human than divine : 
Yet at one flash to will and have it done, 
To make conception and completion one ; 
Is not this justly to be deemed a sign 
Of more — not less — of that peculiar might 
Of forethought — adaptation — infinite 
Resources in one faculty combined, 
Glimpses of which we call, whene'er they shine 
In finite creatures, consciousness and mind ? 

" But if that primal Cause, as means, employ 

Growth — progress — evolution, does indeed 

This fact, that other of ' design ' destroy ? 

If Clime or outward Circumstance succeed 

In forcing life into its myriad Shapes 

Of beauty, fitness, symmetry so rare — 

Scarce for an instant candid thought escapes 

Of that designing mind its former need. 

For who gave Circumstance this genius vast, 

So wisely to select, extinguish, spare — 

Turn out such wond'rous mechanism at last ? 

Whence the mould's power to shape each cunning cast? 

Chance is no Chance that leads to ends as fine 

As boundless Skill or Science could design. 

'Law,' ' Method' ! these still need the Something higher — 

Designing Mind and purpose, still require. 



canto in.] Ranolf and Amohia. 55 

And should you prove the human race began, 

Forsooth ! in manlike ape, or apelike man, 

(Though why the Ape is not advancing now, 

Through ages can no hair-breadth's progress show 

To higher aims — let those explain who can !) 

Are not Man's soaring spirit and its claim, 

Its maker, mystery, miracle, the same 

As if in that more vulgar conjuring way 

He sprang at one great leap from ruddy clay ? — 

Truly, the rudimentary display 

In lowlier forms, of organs — powers — we meet 

In loftier — of design gives proof complete : 

And were, to show design, the thing designed, 

How for our finite could that infinite Mind 

A more conclusive, clearer method find, 

Than thus to let the self-same pathway lead 

To his great ends, whereby he had decreed 

Our minds designing, should themselves proceed ? 

And as a Painter somewhere in the dark 

Leaves on his pictures his distinctive mark, 

Or, haply, best the authorship to tell 

Of earlier works that fond in memory dwell, 

Might give to quiring Seraphs as they gaze 

Enraptured on the beatific blaze 

Of present Deity's immediate rays — 

Haloed with every heavenly attribute — 

Some favourite form of viol, harp, or lute 

His less ambitious art had oft bestowed 

On blind old Minstrel begging by the road ; 

Or peasants revelling, rid of creaking drays 

And milk-white ox-teams and their latest load, 

Last shaking purple hill of vintage-fruit ; 



56 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto hi. 

The grand Designer thus, to prove when done 
His works harmonious and the Worker one, 
Might thus his works initial — thus impress 
Ignobler traces of the lower and less 
On loftier works of one Almightiness ; 
And show how such excess of plastic skill 
Can with one method — one material still 
Stop at the low or reach the high at will. 



IV. 

" But of that conscious Cause — what next declare ? 

Must we attribute, by deduction fair, 

But just so much of power for good or ill 

To this mysterious Being's deed or will 

As in the Universe we see displayed ? 

That were indeed to limit and degrade 

All possible Existence to a range 

Lower and narrower (a conclusion strange !) 

Than what poor finite Mortals can conceive. 

In spite of Hume — 'tis harder to believe 

He who has done so much can not do more, 

And all the evil that exists retrieve 

With compensating good somewhere in store — 

Than that the fault lies with the human Mind, 

Too weak and narrow the true cause to find 

Why from the first throughout the universe 

The best has not excluded all the worse. 

And more preposterous it is to dream 

The Universe is an abortive scheme. 

Worked by a Power unequal to its task, 

Or to complete a plan it cannot mask, 



canto in.] Ranolf and Amohia. 57 

Than to believe that Power — so great confest, 

Spite of apparent flaws we seem to trace 

In all its works — is far beyond the best 

And mightiest our conceptions can embrace — 

And therefore (though so much we take on trust) 

Perfectly wise, good, powerful, loving, just." 



Well — this fresh faith in God and Good, no more, 
For such a soul — so healthy, bold, and bright, 
Shrivelled or shrunk in metaphysic blight — 
Wherein it flourished greenly as before, 
As if from deeper source unreached it came — 
Than dewy grass through window-panes descried 
Waving unscorched in vivid flickering flame 
Reflected from the fire that burns inside. 
No ! strong and joyous — so he ran, 
Bright and joyous like the Sun, 
His free course from Boy to Man. 
Evil in its thousand forms, 
Fester as it might, without, 
Failed to drive that heart so stout 
To the fiends — Despondence — Doubt \ 
Deadly Serpents he could shun 
Or their writhing coils repress 
With that hardy hopefulness 
Almost infantine, which strangles 
In its cradle crawling worms 
So lethal, loathly. So he found, 
Though as yet 'twas theory, crowned 
Only by experience slight, 
Evil — sickness, pain and peril, 
All that sinks cold hearts and duller, 



58 Ra7iolf and Amohia. [canto hi. 

Into icy creeds and sterile, 
Like the sardonyx or beryl, 
Like the prism's crystal angles — 
Could but make the pure white light 
Of the Good that lurks around 
Everywhere and infinite, 
Flash in rays of richer colour, 
Streaks and stains more exquisite — 
Pity — Patience — Self-denial — 
Love — Endurance through all trial, 
And a thousand virtues-— feelings — 
Gaining thence their sole revealings. 

Sanguine, say you, his temper ! — If his blood 

Coloured his reasoning, 'twas at least as good 

As props the atrabiliar doctrines dyed 

So darkly on the melancholic side. 

We ground on those mudbanks of Doubt alone 

In the ebb of the world's heart or our own ; 

Tangled in shallows of Despondence dark 

Only when life is at low-water mark. 

Not in our healthiest, our completest state 
Do such misgivings our wise joys abate : 
And youth's glad trust is worth most mental wealth ; 
For Confidence is Life — and Hope is health : 
At least his seemed so — who with pipe renewed 
This way his dry soliloquy pursued : 
" What ! fear we hopeful Confidence is blind ; 

That the Heart's sunshine needs the clouded Mind ! 

Must Reason then be spurned from her high seat, 

Or that most natural passion held a cheat ? 

That thirst for deathless life, that high desire 

With which all wakened Intellects aspire, 



canto in.] Ranolf and Amohia. 59 

As the dread Serpent of Eternity 

Had bitten them with fangs like those accurst 

Once fabled of the dipsas— causing thirst 

That quenchless burnt for ever ! must this be 

Held a mere lure to lead the human race 

Through the long ages to some loftier place, 

And from the myriad generations spent 

And wasted in the wearisome ascent, 

Evolve some sample of consummate skill 

Whom powers with instincts harmonized should fill — 

The clearest Reason and the purest Will ? 

That perfect race — must it, too, have its day, 

Rise, growth, and culmination, and decay, 

Then, like its predecessors, pass away ? 

What ! could your great Contriver, then, contrive 

No better shift his vast machine to drive, 

Only at such a failure to arrive ? 

Either prevent illusive Hope's uprise, 

Or make the illusion's fathomless disguise 

At least impervious to human eyes ? 

What kind of God would show for one short hour 

Such want, yet waste, of Goodness and of Power ? 

If such the Universe, at once declare 

Some Demon-Bungler has been busy there ; 

Willing and yet too clumsy to deceive, 

Creating spirits to aspire and grieve 

And die without redemption or reprieve ; 

Myriads on myriads fleeting like a breath, 

Endless vicissitude of Life and Death ; 

The swarming star-shoals coming — going — whence 

Or whither? without object in the dense 

Infinitude of futile impotence ! 



60 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto hi. 

Nor boots it that the central, primal Cause 
Itself might boast of permanence or pause, 
Be an eternal Now — a boundless Here — 
Nor like his vain creations disappear. 
No ! any God I would believe or teach 
Should be at lowest competent to reach 
The good of All through happiness of Each ; 
Each life progressive, and the last result 
In bliss unqualified should all exult ; 
Perfect as well as permanent should be, 
Creation's glorious Crown, and every glad degree. 
Nor call God's goodness other than our own, 
Different in kind, not in degree alone ; 
If so, let nothing be denied, averred ; 
Vote all assertions on the theme absurd, 
Give it no thought, nor waste on it a word." 

VI. 

So, as we said, still high and clear forthstood, 

For this inquirer's cheery thought and mood, 

God and the great predominance of Good ; 

So could his heart retain its joyous tone ; 

Run over in a worship of its own ; 

Nor, as the taper's wax in wintry room 

Melts, but congeals in winding-sheets of gloom, 

Would for a moment feel its fervid flow 

Chilled by keen Scepticism's cheerless page, 

Or the cold spirit of a critical age 

Into ill-omened dreams of hopeless woe. 

If, in an argument it e'er befell 

His reason baffled, made a feebler stand, 

His haughty senses settled it off-hand, 



canto in.] Ranolf and Amohia. 61 

Perhaps with greater reason — who can tell ? 
Once when, with pro's and con's eternal tired, 
Some good materialist had talked him dead — 
" Here try this lovely disputant — I smell 
God's goodness in this damask rose," he said ; 
" O listen to the luscious miracle ! 
With such convincing fragrance 'tis inspired, 
With such an eloquent glow — with hues so rare 
And useless — arguments beyond compare, 
Its crimson beauty burns upon the air ! " 

VII. 

Yet not for this could he the more incline 
To cramping creeds, or any partial shrine ; 
His heart was but one endless protestation 
Against the slightest shackles on free Thought ; 
Rather than not attain the end he sought, 
His strong intolerant love of toleration, 
His towering spirit of tyrannous liberty, 
Had forced all mental bond-slaves to be free. 
Then all for Nature ! "She alone for me ! " 
" What /" he would cry in his impetuous style, 
Climbing, perhaps, some mountain-peak the while, 

" What need of Temples ! All around, 

Through Earth's expanse, through Heaven's profound , 

A conscious Spirit, beauty-crowned, 

A visible glory breathes and breaks, 

And of these mountains, moors and lakes 

A Holiest of the Holies makes ! 

Above — around — where'er you be, 

The true Shekinah shining see ! 

With ever-fuming Incense there 



62 Ranolf mid Amohia. [canto hi. 

An Altar burns for praise and prayer ! 
Whence better to the Lord of Love 
Can sorrow waft its wail above 
Than from some desert-waste forlorn, 
Where sadly, of all splendour shorn, 
Creeps-in the stilly-dripping Morn ? 
Why not in deep prostration groan 
On God for help when all alone 
Where forests make their mighty moan ? 
Why not the exulting burst of praise 
Pour forth where hills their great tops raise 
Majestic in the silent blaze 
Of Sunset over Ocean's haze ? 
What ! shall the Spirit only draw 
Near that unknown and nameless Awe 
Where, beauteous though it be, there stands 
Some puny work of human hands ? 
But I, O mystic Might ! no less 
As thy all-hallowed home will bless 
Sublimest Nature's loveliness ! 
But I will dare, O Power Divine ! 
Revere One true transcendent Shrine 
This flashing Universe of Thine ! " 



VIII. 

Enough of this. — 'Twas time for him to turn 
To some profession now, and haply learn 
How in the hungry press of strugglers best 
The means of life his own right hand may wrest. 
But better is the narrow, humble sphere 
Which sets from childhood's days before the eyes 
Some calling which to climb to were a prize — 



canto in.] Ranolf and Amohia. 6$ 

Which, difficult to win, is therefore dear — 

Than wider means which leave the cultured lad 

Himself to choose what path of life to run — 

Let Fancy tell what Duty should be done, 

Make worthless what can be for wishing had, 

And prove how too much choice is worse than none. 

And this felt Ranolf — puzzled sore to name 

Church — Physic — Law — which most attractive seemed, 

Or rather least repulsive should be deemed. 

What marvellous study like the human frame ! 

What webs and tissues by that living loom 

Woven to rarest texture, richest bloom; 

What wefts and warps of flexile ducts that wind 

In never-tangled courses intertwined ; 

What mechanisms intricate, exact, 

In orderly profusion ranged and packed ; 

What cunning cordage curiously inlaced ; 

What delicate engines of supply and waste ; 

What fine concoctions and witch-juices strange 

For metamorphosis and magic change ; 

What subtlest forces balanced and combined ; 

Leaving poor human skill so far behind, 

All Art seems artless, all Invention blind ! 

But then how saddening, that superb array 

No more in healthy and harmonious play, 

But festering in disorder and decay ! 

What grander triumph can Experience show 

Than the cool surgeon's, who, in conquering strife 

With fell disease, with science-guided knife 

Dares open wide the dreadful door of Life 

Some perilous moments, and his dexterous feat 

Of desperate rescue rapidly complete 



64 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto hi, 

With sure decisive stroke, lest the grim Foe 
Should entrance gain and all his work o'erthrow i 
"Aye !" thought our student, with a transient glow, 
" For object so exalted who denies 
The labour of a life were well bestowed ? 
But then, alas ! to that proud power the road 
Through fetid chambers of Dissection lies 
Whereat a very Ghoul's foul gorge would rise." 



Well, cannot Law awake some genuine spark 

Of true ambition — pay for patient toil ? 

What spectacle more pleasing than to mark 

Some Master of inimitable fence 

Strike Falsehood to the heart through every foil 

And feint of scoundrel skill ? mark learning, sense, 

And trained acumen .flash their sunlike rays 

Through all the vile, perversely winding ways 

Of vice ; illuminate the burrowed maze 

And crannies Craft and Cunning know to shape, 

And stop their every earthhole of escape ! 

Is not the Law a mighty mesh to snare 

The many-shifted meanness of mankind ? 

Of cheated Innocence the Champion fair 

Against all wrongs by tyrant Wealth designed ? 

Its task, what nobler since the world began, 

To sort and settle by right Reason's plan 

All deeds Man does or duties owes to Man ? 

To stamp the drill and discipline of schools 

On the rude progeny of fertile Chance ; 

Through Time's still widening wilderness to chase 

With the slow hounds of principles and rules 

(Though mostly distanced in the dubious race) 



canto in.] Ranolf and Amohia. 65 

The ever-doubling hares of Circumstance ? 
Nay ! may not even youth's impatience glance 
With pitying interest or perhaps with praise — 
At that mole-eyed devotion of old days 
Which with such mousing perseverance strove — 
Such creeping subtlety and crabbed love, 
To fit dead forms to living ages, lacking 
Responsive facts that made their sole defence ; 
In search of reasons, dull inventions racking 
For aims that had to reason no pretence ; 
And stretching Ingenuity to cracking, 
To reconcile absurdity to sense ? — 
" Fine theories all ! " thought Ranolf—" but that bowl 
Of Law — what golden bias guides its roll 
We know ; how riches crush the right — how long 
Perverted learning bolsters up the wrong ; 
And doubtless as distasteful it must be 
To dabble in diseased morality 
As physical corruption. Is it true 
"Besides, that Wrong, like Right, to get its due, 
Let Justice fairly judge between the two, 
Must have its Advocate — whate'er he feel 
To brawl and burst with simulated zeal ? — 
'Twere odious as, for those sly silent fees, 
To cant condolement with high-fed Disease, 
Paddle with Luxury's pampered pulse— and steal 
Through sham sick rooms with cat-like pace and pun- 
Sleeking palled Fashion's pleasure-ruffled fur." 

Try then the Church. "What Church?" our youngster sighed : 

" Is there within the world's circumference wide 

A Church or any Temple — in this dearth 

Of Faith, with half her heavenly cables snapt, 

5 



66 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto hi. 

Hope's anchor scarcely left — has life or worth 

To make its intellectual votaries feel 

What in old days they felt ; that martyr zeal, 

Forgetfulness of present self and rapt 

Possession of the Infinite on Earth 

That gave a grandeur to the Life it scorned ? 

But who would brook a church if unadorned 

With absolute love of Truth ? unless it gave 

To Thought the utmost freedom it could crave ; 

Followed where'er it led, true Reason's light ; 

Avowed itself to Truth an utter slave, 

Truth ever and Truth only — come what might ? 

And who that loved his own free soul could bear 

To work, a digger in the dark gold mine 

Of spiritual Truth, or bold researches try 

Where scientific Doubts with deadly shine 

Like Icebergs freeze, or Faith's bleached fragments lie 

Whitening the hot Saharas of Despair — 

Handcuffed and fettered with the leaden links 

Of dogmas stereotyped — creeds cut-and-dry 

And double-dry ? heart-paralysed by dread 

Of all but what smooth smug ' Society ' 

That feels by fashion and by custom thinks, 

Gives pass and permit to? Whose Soul so dead 

As dare assume the glorious character 

Of Soul-Deliverer, trembling lest he stir 

Some wash-tub of Formality about — 

Dumb till it rage its tiny tempest out ? 

Or who with strangely grovelling Quixotry 

Would think to quell the Evil all about 

Witn candlesticks and censers ? — satisfy 

The crave for Infinite Good that cannot die, 

With trim and tinselled haberdashery? 



canto in.] Ranolf and AmoJda. 6j 

Who, in a fight so fierce in such an age, 
With lackered shields and silvered wooden swords 
Of ceremonious mummeries would engage? 
With pagan posture-tricks such warfare wage 
And pantomime, in place on Thespian boards — 
Stage-twirlings in the death-tug ! Who could dote 
In imbecile expectance to assuage 
Sharp pangs of soul with prayers run up by rote 
In self-complacent trills with pompous throat ? 
Would any heart remorse had desperate driven, 
Or milder sense of ' Sin ' abased, on heaven 
In accents guided by the gamut call, 
And do-re-mi-sol-fa the God of All ? " 

His youthful scorn would graver minds endorse ? — 

A priesthood's duty is as great, of course, 

Old Truth admitted to apply — enforce, 

As to explore the Universe for new. 

But how much priestly truth is granted true ? 

Will Science check Truth's still increasing flow, 

Whether it drown a drowsing Church or no ? 

Should not the eye be open ? — hand be free 

To seize at once whate'er the eye may see 

Of nascent truth, and let the dying go ? 

What, if like Shepherds more than half asleep, ' 

Over the gold-brown gloss a Priesthood keep 

Vain watch, while half their sheep a-hungered stray 

To succulent green pastures far away ? 

For Forms of Faith, though beautiful they be, 

If e'er the Truth, their living spirit, flee, 

What are they like but cold and stony flowers, 

These geysers boiling up through emerald bowers 

In far-off islands he was soon to see. 



68 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto in. 

Clothe with a sparry spume, that hardens white 

Around the perished plant concealed from sight, 

But still retains in delicate array 

Each form of tiny leaf and tender spray, 

Cold, crumbling, colourless — in lifeless pride — 

No growing green, no circling sap inside ! 

IX. 

Well, ere his choice was fixed — his father died, 
And left the youth with more of gold supplied 
Than would for his immediate wants provide. 
So to the Sea, his passion all the time, 
He took. To rove from clime to clime, 
At least would gratify his ruling taste : 
At least, he knew upon the watery waste 
His buoyant spirits kept in play would be — 
His soul unfettered still, his fancy free. 



canto iv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 69 



CANTO THE FOURTH. 

1. 
And now, behold, this Ranolf once again 
Tossing, a Student-Sailor, on the main. 

Here are some fragments written home from sea, 

Two in his earlier Sailor life, and three 

His later. Of his character they show 

Some traits, perchance. Then pardon us, although 

Beguiled, dear Reader, at this stage too long, 

(Alas, for sins of inartistic Song !) 

O prithee pardon, if with little skill 

We fling these scraps together — skip who will ! 

T. 

-» * * -X # * 

" A noble sport — and my delight 
That reefing topsails ! just to make all right, 
Ere the wind freshens to a gale at night. 
See ! clambering nimbly up the shrouds, 
Go, thick as bees, the sailor-crowds ; 
The smartest for the post of honour vie 
That weather yardarm pointing to the sky : 



jo Ranolf and Amohia. [canto iv 

They gather at the topmast-head 
And dark against the darkling cloud 
Sidling along the foot-ropes spread : 
Dim figures o'er the yardarm bowed, 
How with the furious Sail, a glorious sight, 
Up in the darkness of the Sky they fight ! 

While by the fierce encounter troubled 
The heavy pitching of the Ship is doubled ; 
The big Sail's swelling, surging volumes, full 
Of wind, the strong reef-tackle half restrains ; 

And like some lasso-tangled bull 
Checked in its mid career of savage might 

O'er far La Plata's plains, 
It raves and tugs and plunges to get free 
And flaps and bellows in its agony ! 
But slowly yielding to its scarce-seen foes 
Faint and more faint its frenzied struggling grows ; 

Till, by its frantic rage at length 
Exhausted, like that desert-ranger's strength, 
Silent and still, it seems to shrink and close ; 
Then, tight comprest, the reef-points firmly tied, 
Down to the deck again the sailors glide ; 
And easier now, with calm concentred force, 
The Ship bounds forward on her lightened course." 



" Once, 'twas my watch below, (worse luck ! ) 
A sudden squall the vessel struck : 
With half my clothes about me thrown 
I rushed on deck — what havoc there ! 
The topsails from the bolt-ropes blown, 



canto iv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 71 

Topgallant masts and royals gone, 

And huddled sails and shattered spars 

And tangled tackle everywhere ; 

While all amazed, our gallant tars 

Stood at the sudden wreck aghast, 

Nor seemed to heed the swift commands 

The Captain shouted through the blast. 

The heaving staysail swagged and swung 

As from the strained jibboom it hung : 

Of course with some sharp words addrest 

To two or three, our smartest hands, 

Forward I jumped to do my best. 

They followed quick ; — the lightest, I 

The bowsprit's end could safest try; 

We grasped the frail spar like grim death, 

And shut our eyes and held our breath, 

Clinging with tightened arms and knees 

When o'er us dashed successive seas 

And blinded, ducked, and drenched us, till 

Seizing the chance of every lull 

To look and lash and tug and pull, 

We furled the sail and got it still ; 

Though no one knew as there we clung 

How badly was the bowsprit sprung. 

But when I 'lighted on the deck 

Shaking the water off, the good 

White-headed Master, who had stood, 

He told me since, in breathless mood 

(His heart was in his mouth, he said 

While looking on, for very dread) 

Threw his old arms about my neck, 

' God bless you ! ' cried he, ' my brave Son I 

Twas nobly, beautifully done ! 



J 2 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto iv. 

The safety of my Ship and Crew 
This blessed day — I swear 'tis true, 
Is owing, under God, to you ! ' — 

Mother ! ten times the risk I'd run 
To have such praise declared my due, 
By such a gallant Seaman too ! " 

3- 

* * * * * * % 

" How grandly — when throughout the silent day, 

Some ample Day, serene, divine, 
Beneath the glowing Line 
Our helpless Ship had hung as in a trance 
In light-blue glassiness of calm that lay 
A wide expanse 
Encircled by soft depths of ether clear, 

Whose melting azure seemed to swim 
Surcharged and saturate with balmiest brilliancy — 
How grandly solemn was the Day's decline ! 
Down as if wholly dropped from out the Sky 
The fallen Sun's great disc would lolling lie 
Upon the narrowed Ocean's very rim, 

Awfully near ! 
A hush of expectation almost grim 
Wrapt all the pure, blank, empty hemisphere ; 
While straight across the gleaming crimson floor, 
From the unmoving Ship's black burnished side, 
There ran a golden pathway right into the core 
Of all that throbbing splendour violet-dyed ; 
Whither it seemed an easy task to follow 
The liquid ripples tremblingly o'erflowing 



canto iv.] Ranolf ana Amohia. 73 

Into the intense and blinding hollow 
Of palpitating purple, showing 

The way as through an open door 
Into some world of burning bliss, undreamt of heretofore. — 

Whose heart would not have swelled, the while 

Deep adoration and delight came o'er him 
At that stupendous mystery, close before him ! 

Not less, but more stupendous that he knew 

Perchance, whate'er the subtle surface-play 
Of Science had to teach of level ray 
Reflected or refracted ; and could say, 
Nay, almost count the millions to a mile, 

How far away 
That pure quintessence of dark fire, deep-lying 
In fathomless Flame-Oceans round him flying, 

His inconceivable circumference withdrew : 
Knew all about the fringe of flames that frisk 
In ruddy dance about his moon-masked face, 
Set on like petals round a sunflower's disc — 
Each glorious petal shooting into space 
Ten times as far as Earth's vast globe is thick : 
Aye ! or could prate about full many a world 
Worn out, and, crushed to cinders, flying fleet, 
Or in cold black rotundity complete, 
Into his burning bosom headlong hurled, 
Just by collision to strike out fresh heat, 

And feed with flame, renew and trim, 

And keep for aye from falling dim 
That monstrous and immeasurable wick — 
Say rather — everlastingly keep bright 
That awful, mystic, God-created Light ! " 



74 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto iv. 



" Naraka — Niflheim — Tartarus — or Tophet ! 
From what dead heart and poor unpicturing brain, — 
Too dull to see or realize 
Its own demoniac phantasies — 
Of Bonze, Skald, Brahman, talapoin, or prophet — 
Goth, Syrian, Greek, or old Hindu, 
Of Aryan or Semitic strain — 
Came singly or from all upgrew 
That ?-ank arch-blasphemy and dream insane 
Of torture-gulfs where Infinite Love 
All human guess or gauge above 
Preserves in fiery suffocation 
The myriads of its own creatio?i ? 
I care not — // but when I came 

On deck in darkness yesternight, 
That very place appeared to be 
Laid bare before my startled sight : 
For far and wide in pale effulgence dire, 
One boundless ghastly welter of white lire, 

The Ocean rolled ; a hoary Sea 
Of awful incandescence rolled and broke away 
In bursts of firespray — tongues of lambent flame 
That writhed and tossed in burning play, 
And with a baleful glare 
Put out the stars — quenched what mild radiance fell 
From the clear skies, as that unhallowed spell 
Of blighting Superstition can outblaze 
With its fierce coruscations of despair 
The genuine rays 



canto iv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 75 

Of light from Heaven that fall like dew, 
Divine illuminings serene and true. 

And yet such thoughts did ill beseem 

This vision — so would any deem, 

And other lore and wiser learn, 

Who o'er the taffrail marked the excess 

And marvel of the loveliness 
Of those swift-whirling volumes of soft light 
Fast-flashing with gold star-drops sparkling bright 
In myriads through the alabaster glow — 
Those spangled gyres and wreaths of dazzling snow 

That still in wide expanding trail 
Went roaring off her stern 

So grandly as our Vessel through 

The surging phosphorescence flew, 
Streaming behind her, as the snowy plumes 

Of those rich birds the Aztecs old 

Reared at their royal Town of Gold, 
Stream when at dusk they slowly sail 
Streaking the depth of Amazonian glooms. 

Ah ! surely no sound heart these glories seeing 

Would thence derive the notion of a Being 
Creating only to destroy ; 
Or framing Phlegethons and fire-washed caves 
Swarming with frenzied Spirits thicker than these waves 
With millions of medusae all alight with joy !" 



" St. Lawrence ! yes, I well remember 
Thy Gulf — that morning in September. 
Fast flew our Ship careering lightly 
Over the waters breaking brightly ; 



y6 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto iv. 

Alongside close as if their aim 

Were but her vaunted speed to shame, 

Sleek porpoises like lightening went 

Cleaving the sunny element ; 

Now where the black bows smote their way 
How would they revel in the roaring spray ! 

Like victors in the contest now 

Dash swift athwart the flying prow ; 

Or springing forward three abreast 

Shoot slippery o'er each foamy crest — 

Shoot upwards in an airy arc 

As three abreast they passed the bark : — 

Pied petrels coursed about the sea 

And skimmed the billows dexterously ; 
Sank with each hollow, rose with every hill, 

So close, yet never touched them till 

They seized their prey with rapid bill : — 

Afar, the cloudy spurts of spray 

Told that the grampus sported there 

With his ferocious mates at play. 

Meanwhile the breeze that freshly blew 

From every breaking wavetop drew 
A plume of smoke that straightway from the sun 

The colours of the rainbow won, 

So that you saw wherever turning 

A thousand small volcanoes burning, 

Emitting vapours of each hue 

Of orange, purple, red and blue. 

The Sky meanwhile was all alive 

With snow-bright clouds that seemed to drive 

Swiftly, as though the Heavens in glee 

Were racing with the racing Sea : 

Each flitting sight and rushing sound 

Spread life and hope and joy around ; 



canto iv.] Ranolf and Arnohia. 77 

Ship, birds and fishes, Sky and ocean 

All restless with one glad emotion ! — 

But what a change ! when suddenly we spy 

Apart from all that headlong revelry — 
Pencilled above the sky-line, like a Spectre drear, 
A silent Iceberg solemnly appear, — 
Pausing ghost-like our greeting to await.. — 
The crystal Mountain, as we come anear 
And feel the airs that from it creep 
So chilling o'er the sunny Deep, 
Discloses — while it slowly shifts 
Now blue, faint-glistening semilucent clifts, 
Now melancholy peaks, dead-white and desolate. 
But comes it not, this guest unbidden 
This wanderer from a home far-hidden, 
Dim herald of the mysteries of the Pole 
With tidings from that cheerless region fraught — 
Comes it not o'er us like the sudden Thought, 
The haunting phantom of a World apart, 

The blank and silent Apparition 
That, ever prompt to gain serene admission, 
Lurks on the crowded confines of the heart, 
The many-pictured purlieus of the Soul ; 
Nay, sometimes thrusts its unexpected presence 
Upon our brightest-tinted hours of pleasaunce ? — 
That Polar realm is ransacked — known — 
And all the World of Matter, still 
Lies pervious to determined will : 
And shall the World of Spirit never 
Its secrets yield to true endeavour ? — 
Five thousand years have doubtless shown 
But little of that Spirit-zone : 
Fo r Science is a Child as yet 
At hornbook rude and primer set : 



yS Ranolf and Amohia. [canto iv, 

And Man is just emerging from the past 
Eternity of Darkness ; from the vast 
^Eons and ages of a measureless Night, 
Rubbing his eyes at the unwonted light : 

How should he read all things aright 
And say what can or cannot be — or utter 
Out of his heart the Universe, whose growth 
And whole existence yet is but the flutter 
Of an ephemeral water-moth ? 

Take fifty thousand years — a span 

In the conceivable career of Man ; 
Think you, with riper knowledge — skill profounder — 
No grand explorers, bolder, sounder, 

Will break into that Spirit-zone — reveal 
Not iron-bound realms of ruthless ice and snow 
Or narrow straits where freezing waters flow, 

No shooting lights, or shifting gleams — 
But prospects trustier than the dance and play 
Protean of those dumb magnetic storms — 
Auroras lovelier than our sanguine dreams 
Of fondest Inspiration — Forms 
Of Being more essentially divine 
Than all that in Thought's topmost triumphs shine ? 
And prove how real the region whence our stray 
And shadowy intimations find their way ; 
With what true signs and tokens rife 
Those glimmering dreams and fine forebodings steal 

Into the circle of our little day, 
Into the glad familiar Sea of Life?" 



canto iv.] Ranolj and Atnohia. 79 



ii. 
'Twas some few months before our tale began. 
Bowling before the fresh fair breezes ran 
Our Ranolf's stately Ship ; and now was nearing 
A range of rugged hills whose olive-green, 
Sleeked over faintly with a sunny sheen, 

Upon the starboard bow was seen. 
Obliquely towards one shadow she was steering 
That, darklier-painted, showed a harbour's mouth, 

Because between her and that goal 

There stretched a hidden dangerous shoal. 
For towering topmasts of the Kauri pine 
The Ship had voyaged to the verdant Isles, 

The Sea-girt El Dorado of the South 
Whose mountains famous since for many a mine 
Of marvellous wealth, and reefs of riches, stand 
The golden baits from bygone ages planned 
To draw the swarms that, sweltering in distress 
Cannot be won by nature's simpler wiles, 
From climes where Life in very overstrife 
To live chokes out redundant rival Life, 

To this remote sweet wilderness, 
This Life-deserted, Life-desiring land. 

In deep blue sky the sun is bright ; 

The Port some few miles off in sight ; 

The pleasant Sea's subsiding swell 
Of gales for days gone by may tell, 
But on the bar no breaker white, 
Only as yet a heavier roll 
Denotes where lurks that dangerous shoal. 



80 Ranolf aitd Amohia. [canto iv, 

Alert with lead, and chart, and glass, 
The Pilot seeks the well-known pass ; 
All his familiar marks in view 
Together brought, distinct and true. 
Erelong the tide's decreasing stream 
Chafes at the nearer bank beneath; 
The Sea's dark face begins to gleam 
(Like tiger roused that shows his teeth) 
With many a white foam-streak and seam : 
Still should the passage, though more rough, 
Have depth of water, width, enough. — 
But why, though fair the wind and filled 
The sails, though masts and cordage strain, 
Why hangs, as by enchantment stilled, 
The Ship unmoving ? — All in vain 
The helm is forced hard down ; 'tis plain 
The shoal has shifted, and the Ship 
Has touched, but o'er its tail, may slip : 
She strains — she moves — a moment's bound 
She makes ahead — then strikes again 
With greater force the harder ground. 
She broaches to ; her broadside black 
Full in the breakers' headlong track ; 
They leap like tigers on their prey ; 
She rolls as on they come amain, 
Rolls heavily as in writhing pain. 
The precious time flies fast away — 
The launch is swiftly manned and sent 
Over the lee, with wild intent 
To anchor grapplings where the tide 
Runs smoother, and the Ship might ride 
Secure beyond the raging bar, 
Could they but haul her off so far. 



canto iv.] Ranolf and Amohia. Si 

The boat against her bows is smashed ; 
Beneath the savage surges dashed, 
Sucked under by the refluent wave, 
They vanish — all those seamen brave. 
On — on — the breakers press — no check — 
No pause — fly hissing o'er the wreck, 
And scour along the dangerous deck. 
The bulwarks on the seaward side, 
Boats — rudder — sternpost irontied 
With deep-driven bolts — how vain a stay ! 
The weight of waters tears away. 
Alas ! and nothing can be done — 
No downward-hoisted flag — no gun 
Be got at to give greater stress 
To that unheard demand for aid 
By the lost Ship's whole aspect made— 
Herself, in piteous helplessness, 
One huge sad signal of distress. 
Still on — and on — the tide's return 
Redoubling now their rage and bulk, 
In one fierce sweep from stem to stern 
The thundering sheets of breakers roar, 
High as the tops in spray-clouds soar, 
And down in crashing cataracts pour 
Over the rolling, tortured hulk. 
Death glares in every horrid shape — 
No help — no mercy — no escape ! 
For falling spars dash out the brains 
Of some — and flying guns adrift, 
Or splinters crush them — slaughter swift 
Whereof no slightest trace remains, 
The furious foam no bloodshed stains : 



82 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto iv. 

Up to the yards and tops they go — 

No hope — no chance of life below ! 

Then as each ponderous groaning mast 

Rocks loosened from its hold at last, 

The shrouds and stays, now hanging slack, 

Now jerking, bounding, tensely back, 

Fling off the helpless victims fast, 

Like refuse on the yeast of death 

That bellows, raves and boils beneath. 

One hapless wretch around his waist 

A knotted rope has loosely braced ; 

When from the stay to which he clings, 

The jerking mast the doomed one flings, 

It slips — and by the neck he swings : 

Death grins and glares in hideous shape — 

No hope — no pity — no escape ! — 

Still on and on — all day the same, 

Through all that brilliant summer day 

Beneath a sky so blithe and blue 

The wild white whirl of waters flew, 

In stunning vollies overswept 

And beat the black Ship's yielding frame, 

And all around roared, tossed, and leapt 

Mad-wreathing swathes of snow ! affray 

More dire than most disastrous rout 

Of some conceivable array 

Of thronged white elephants — as they 

Their phalanx broke in warfare waged 

In Siam or the Punjaub — raged 

And writhed their great white trunks about, 

With screams that shrill as trumpets rung, 

And drove destruction everywhere 

In maddened terror at the shout 



canto iv.] Ranolf and Amohia. S3 

Of turban ed hosts and torches' flare 
Full in their monstrous faces flung ; — 
Wide horror ! but to this, no less, 
This furious lashing wilderness, 
Innocuous-seeming — transient — tame ! 
Still on — still on— like fiends of Hell 
Whiter than Angels — frantic — fell, 
Through all that summer day the same 
The merciless murderous breakers came ! 
And to the mizen-top that swayed 
With every breach those breakers made, 
Unaided, impotent to aid — 
The mates and Master clung all day. 
There — while the Sun onlooking gay 
Triumphant trod his bright highway ; 
There, till his cloudless rich decline — 
Faint in the blinding deafening drench 
Of salt waves roaring down the whine 
And creaking groans each grinding wrench 
Took from the tortured timbers — there 
All day — all day — in their despair, 
The gently brave, the roughly good, 
Collected, calm and silent stood. 
That hideous doom they firmly face ; 
To no unmanly moans give way, 
No frantic gestures ; none disgrace 
With wild bravado, vain display, 
Their end, but like true men await 
The dread extremity of Fate. 
Alas ! and yet no tongue can tell 
What thoughts of life and loved ones swell 
With anguish irrepressible, 
The hearts these horrors fail to quell. 



84 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto iv. 

The Master urges them to prayer, 
1 No hope on Earth — be Heaven your care ! ' 
And is it mockery — O but mark 
Those masts and crowding figures, dark 
Against the flush of love and rest 
Suffusing all the gorgeous West 
In tearful golden glory drest — 
Such soft majestic tenderness, 
As of a Power that longs to bless 
With ardours of divinest breath 
All but one raging spot of Death : — 
For all the wide expanse beside 
Is blushing, beauteous as a Bride ; 
And a fierce wedding-day indeed 
It seems, of Life and Death — with none to heed. 

And now the foam spurts up between 

The starting deck-planks ; downward bowed 

The mighty masts terrific lean ; 

Then each with its despairing crowd 

Of life, with one tremendous roar 

Falls like a tower — and all is o'er. 

in. 
One of the worn despairing ring who round 
Their chief upon the mizen-top had found 
A dizzy shelter in the pelting spray, 

Had Ranolf borne that dreadful day ; 

Down with the headlong mast was thrown ; 
And as his consciousness flashed back again 

(A moment in the act of failing gone) 
He found himself almost alone 
With desperate clutch still clinging to the top 



canto iv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 85 

Beneath its lee that fenced the lashing rain 

Of breakers off — else all had been in vain. 
'Mid tangled rigging, to the vessel's side 
With violent efforts he contrived to glide ; 
Then, by the chains protected, in the shade 
Of the green flying roof the wild waves made, 
In that dark hollow's gloom a hideous space, 
Steadying his thoughts and strength he clung, 

While in his ears the roaring ceaseless race, 

The driving avalanche that knew no stop, 

With stunning dread reverberation rung. 
Beneath him frequent timbers swung 

In fragments to and fro ; so, quick as thought, 

He seized a lucky chance to drop 

Into the weltering foam, and caught 

A floating piece of plank, and kept 

Half hopeless his determined hold, 

While it and he like lightning swept 

To where the waves less wildly rolled : 

A larger fragment next he gained ; 

Then, with what failing strength remained, 

Straight towards that dear-bought harbour strained. 

Scarce half a mile the favouring tide 
Had forged his drifting plank ahead, 
When in the gathering gloom he spied 
A big canoe with bulwarks red ; 
And heard the beat of paddles plied 
With strong recurrence — right good will. 
Half dead with cramp, fatigue, and chill, 
He called ; the paddles all were still. 
He called again ; a cheery strain 
Gave answer as the rowers sung ; 
And forth the bounding vessel sprung 



86 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto iv 

And shot his wayward plank beside 
With swirling swiftness as a coot 
Or wild duck will alighting shoot — 
Ere it can stay its headlong way — 
Along the ruffled water. Then 
An eager crowd of deep-voiced men, 
Dark-visaged, wild — in unknown tongue, 
Their hoarse congratulations cried, 
As safe on board the backed canoe 
With rapid talk and much ado, 
That kindly crew the Stranger drew. 
With fiercer chaunt they pulled ashore ; 
There from his clothes the water wrung, 
Lit fires, brought food, and on the floor 
His bed of fresh-pulled ferns, o'erlaid 
With clean elastic mattings, made ; 
Tried all that care or kindness can 
Of genial Earth or generous Man — 
Though one half desert, one half savage — 
To smoothe and smile away the pangs 
Of grief and bodily pain and dread 
Of horrible Ocean's wreck and ravage, 
Whose shadow like a nightmare hangs 
O'er one who lives, of many dead, 
Just rescued from her ruthless fangs. 

IV. 

So ended that death-stricken day. — 

But how felt Ranolf as he lay 
Rescued and weary — and could scarcely deem 
'Twas real, what seemed a wild tremendous dream, 
That all his comrades bold had passed away ? 
Bursting with thanks, O doubt not, to the Power 
Whose laws had let him live through such an hour : 



canto iv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 87 

And yet — to think of all that life so marred 

And mangled, swept away like worthless chaff 

While merciless mocking Nature did but laugh ! — 

" This pure Benevolence hits somewhat hard 

It must be owned," thought he, " or rather say 

Inexorable laws must have their way. 

Were any breach of law allowed, who knows 

What infinite disasters would ensue ! 

Such certainty is safest, we suppose, 

For creatures such as Men are. Trite and true ! 

Yet such a hell of havoc as we saw 

To-day makes one half-dubious of such law ; 

Results so dire, alas ! who would not call 

Demoniac still — if what we see were all ! " 

v. 

When from the beach with swollen corpses strewn 
Like seaweed, 'mid the waste of wreck upthrown 
His sea-chest had been brought, and honestly 

Returned him — as he much desired 
More of this people and their land to see — 
To the far neighbouring continent he sent, 
(To pay for food and service as required) 
For woven stuffs and many an implement 
And trinket these barbarians most admired. 
Their language then he set himself to learn 
With zeal, until the vessel's slow return • 
And when in that, and their strange customs versed, 
With followers often changed and cheaply paid 
From place to place and tribe to tribe he strayed 
Amused and loitering, till his way he made 
To Rotorua, where we found him first. 



88 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto v. 



CANTO THE FIFTH. 



A fine old sturdy stalwart stubborn Chief 
Was Tangi-Moana, the " Wailing Sea " : 

Both brave and wise in his degree. 
In Council calm, no wordy waterspout, 

He loved with some bold figure brief 
In words — or blunt symbolic act without, 
To clench and quench discussion quietly. 
But there so careless of distinction, he 
Was a conspicuous, restless, fiery guiding-star 

And rock-like rally ing-point in war. 

His many merits how shall we repeat ? 

In all that most adorns a Chief, complete. 

Highborn — of ancient perfect pedigree, 

The carved and saw-notched stick, his family-tree 

And roll heraldic, where each tooth expressed 

A male progenitor, concisely showed 

How still through these his lineage proud had flowed 

For not a single gap confessed 
The rank did ever in a female vest, 
Since, from that blissful Isle divine 
Far o'er the azure hyaline — 



canto v.] Ranolf and Amohia. 89 

That sunlit vision seen sublime 

Faint glimmering through thick mists of Time, 

The cradle of his race, in legends yet 

Embalmed, a fond ideal for regret — 

Since from Hawaiki, tempest-driven, 

Or roaming restless for a wider home, 

Five hundred years ago had come 

The mighty Founder of his line, 
Commanding (one of those primeval Seven) 
His old hereditary grand canoe. 
To all the unkempt Aristocrats around 

Who could a better model be 

Of all befitting their degree ? 
For costlier mantles, richer in design, 
No chief more carelessly possessed : 

None with a choicer feather-crest 
Would, when occasion needed it, be crowned ; 
Had those rare plumes in heir-loom chest preserved 
More richly carved, more elegantly curved ; 
There, with green nephrite pendants safely hid, 
Though loose its oval-shaped, oil-darkened lid — 
His sole " tapu " a far securer guard 
Than lock and key of craftiest notch and ward. 

And none gave ampler feasts — displayed 

War-clubs of more transparent jade : 
And finer closer spirals of dark blue 
Were never seen than in his cheek's tattoo ; 
Fine as if engine-turned those curves declared 
No cost to fee the Artist had been spared ; 
That many a basket of good maize had made 
That craftsman careful how he tapped his blade, 
And many a greenstone trinket had been given 
To get his chisel-flint so deftly driven. 



go Ranolf and Amohia. [canto v. 



ii. 

Now at the time whereof we tell, 
The white man's creed — the potent spell 
Of civilised communion had begun 
Their work about the borders of the land : 
Before that higher light, and influence bland 
(As night recedes long ere you see the sun) 
The most revolting vices of the race, 
Among ev'n those who never would embrace 
The new belief — child-murder and the feast 
That sinks the cannibal below the beast, 
His better there — the ghoullike foul disgrace, 
Had slunk away abashed and wholly ceased. 
As, when you turn upon a sea-creek's shore, 

Some limpet-crusted boulder o'er, 
The reptile life that swarmed and skulked beneath 
So close that nothing there had seemed to breathe- 
Sea-centipedes and purple crabs and worms 
Threadlike, blood-red — and limbless fleshy forms, 
Swiftly or slowly — all before the light, 
Shrink — wriggle — scuttle sidelong out of sight — 
So had those viler vices taken flight. 

And Tangi and his tribe thus much had gained, 
Those vices lost, but all their gods retained. 
A love of change was never fault of his, 
And least he fancied such a change as this. 
Once when a zealous teacher from the North 
The terrors of his creed had thundered forth — 
Unfolded with keen zest and kind desire 
To save his hearers from so sad a fate, 



canto v.] Ranolf and Amohia. 91 

His pleasant faith in everlasting fire, 

And painted all the pangs the damned await — 

While horror blanched the cheeks of half the crowd, 

Old Tangi roared with laughter long and loud : 

That Hell of theirs, he said, might be a place 

Wholesome and fitting for the white man's race, 

No Maori was half bad enough to be 

Doomed to so horrible a destiny : 

Had a good Spirit destined for such woe 

His children after death, he long ago 

Had sent some trusty friend to let them know ; 

But he for his part would have nought to do 

With any Atua* whether false or true, 

Who could delight his direst foe to see 

The victim of such monstrous cruelty. 

And when he learnt what adverse sects prevailed 

And how each other's doctrines they assailed, 

He held his hand out, with the fingers spread — 

"So many ways to heaven you teach," he said ; 

" When you have fixed the right one and none doubt it, 

" 'Twill then be time for me to think about it." 

Sometimes indeed when young hardheaded minions 
From seaside tribes would urge these new opinions, 
Our Chief, for argument was not his forte, 
With calm remonstrance tried to cut them short : 
What all their ancestors and his believed 
W T hy could not they ? that which was good enough 
For them, might well content, as he conceived, 
Such youngsters ; — husky grew his voice and gruff : 
" What ! give up all our good old ways — the charms 
And ceremonies practised all our lives 

* Atua — God ur Spirit. 



92 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto v 

To make our Men all warriors, brave in arms, 
Our Women skilful, chaste, industrious wives — 
Give up our wars — war-dances — tauas * — taboo, 
Whence all our wealth, and power, and fame accrue, 
For these new notions ! were they all to cease 
For this effeminate creed of love and peace !" — 
But when the good old Chief found all he felt 
So strongly had no power to move or melt 
His tough opponents, he the point pursued 
No further — but with self-complaisance stout 
Closed with that comfort — wherein oft no doubt 
Much abler controversialists conclude — 
" 'Twas self-sufficiency — 'twas downright mere 
Conceit that would not see a case so clear — 
'Twas rage for talk, or love of contradiction, 
That would not be convinced " — by his conviction ! 

And so a hearty heathen he remained, 
And those new whimsies quietly disdained ; 
He fed his Gods and fee'd his priests so well, 
What was to him the white Man's heaven or hell ? 
A Priest himself and half a God or quite, 
Did not the elements confess his might ? 
At least all said so— and if failure wrought 
Misgiving, still desire constrained his thought ; 
The failure proved the counteracting spite 
Of rival Gods into collision brought, — 
Against his own pretensions argued nought. 
Nor wonder this should be ; when low and base 
Man's notions of a God, and vain and high 
Those of himself, as with a barbarous race 
And minds uncultured ever is the case, 



* Tmia — a war expedition. 



canto v.] Ranolf and Amohia. 93 

Men may believe their own divinity : 
Manhood and Godhood come so near together 
They may be made to mingle and agree 
Without much stretch of Faith's or Fancy's tether. 
And thus our Chieftain felt ; if he excelled 
In attributes for which his Gods were held 
Divine — might he not be their equal too ? 
Could he not at his pleasure save or slay, 
A Lord of life and death as well as they ? 
And for those elements — 'twas but mistaking 
The still unknown and so obscure relations 
Between the Spirit mystical outbreaking 
Through all the manifold manifestations 
Of Nature, and the surer Spirit illuming 
His own as mystic Being, and mastery thence, 
In pride of his superior excellence, 
Over that other phase of Spirit assuming. 



in. 
Such was this Tangi — such " The Wailing Sea ;" 

Of form almost gigantic he — 
Bull-necked, square-jawed, firm-lipped, bold-eyed, broad- 
browed, 
His looks proclaimed his character aloud : 
And when he stood forth in full height and pride 
In flowing vest of silky flax, undyed, 
But crimson-spotted with round knobs of wool, 
Black points of cord, alternate, hanging free ; 
And o'er it, down to the brown ancles bare 
A mantle of white wild-dog fur well-dressed, 
Its skirt's broad rim tan-hued ; his snowy hair 
Crowned with a jet-black arching crest 



94 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto v. 

Of hoopoe-feathers stuck upright, 

Their tips a crescent of pure white ; 
And in his hand, to order with or smite, 
The greenstone baton broad of war or rule, 
Green, smooth and oval as a cactus leaf — 
Did he not look, aye, every inch a Chief? 
Did not each glance and gesture stamp him then, 
Self-heralded a God-made King of Men ? 

IV. 

A thunderstorm was sweeping o'er the Lake, 

The hills had whitened off in sudden mist 

That soon grew leaden-livid ; flake on flake 

The fine spray smoked along the watery floor — 

Till plumb-down rushed the rain's impetuous pour ; 

A thousand claps of thunder seemed to break 

Confusedly all at once — with clattering roar 

Tumbled about the air or groaning rolled, 

As if some race Titanic, storming Heaven 

From ponderous unimaginable wains 

On rocky grating causeways headlong driven, 

Shot crashing mountains on the skiey plains ; 

Or if the tumult for a moment stopped 

You heard the torrent rain how loud it hissed, 

As if a hecatomb of bulls at least 

Were broiling for some sacrificial feast ; 

And all about the liquid lightnings dropped 

In points like grapestones shaped, of molten gold. 

But Tangi, while the tempest raged, was told 

That where his daughter might be no one knew — 

They feared, upon the Lake in her canoe. 

Straightway the stoutest of his clansmen staunch 

He sent in search of her their boats to launch ; 



canto v.] Ranolf and Amohia. 95 

Then set himself to charm away the Storm ; 

And it was rare to see the grand old Chief 

Now in the haughtiness of fancied power 

To cope with Nature in her fiercest hour, 

Quick pouring forth wild-ringing chaunt on chaunt 

To bid Tawhiri— God of Storms — A vaunt ! 

Now in a rival storm of rage and grief 

Threatening — reproaching — all his stalwart form 

Dilating with defiance : outstretched arms 

And head thrown back and milk-white fleece of hair, 

And blooodshot eyes and dark-blue visage bare 

Lit up by fits in the blue lightning's glare. 

So plies he his monotonous rude charms — 

So on the Storm his vehement passion vents, 

Hoarsely upbraiding the hoarse elements. 



v. 

But soon the light Canoe they saw 

Come bounding o'er the breaking wave • 

There sate, while mixed delight and awe 
Beamed from her face, the Maiden brave ! 

With rapid change from side to side 

A native youth the paddle plied — 

A stranger, and his hearty will 

Seemed matched with equal strength and skill. 

Attentive to his least command 

The Maiden grasped with one firm hand 

The sheet that held the shortened sail 

That strained and tugged beneath the gale, 

And with the other strove to bale 

Fast as she could the water, still 

Threatening the little bark to fill. 



g6 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto 

Begemmed with spray her dark hair streamed ; 

Her beauteous cheek no paler seemed 

Though rain and spray-drops o'er it teemed 

And all around the lightnings gleamed : 

For neither lightning, rain nor spray 

Could turn her from her task away. 

Still stood the sail and bending mast, 

And they the beach were nearing fast. 

Then through the waters' boiling strife 

The clansmen rushed at risk of life ; 

A struggling, swimming, diving crowd, 

They seized with acclamations loud 

The gunwale of the light canoe ; 

On either side, a dancing row 

Of rough black heads now rising through 

Now sunk beneath the foamy snow, 

With great triumphant shouts they bore 

Canoe and Maiden to the shore. 



VI. 

And now the youth announced how he 

To Rotorua's Chief of high degree 

From Tapuae by Taupo's Lake, his home, 

A messenger of great sad news was come : 

How he by chance upon the other side 

Had Amohia's bark espied 

And she had offered him a cast across. 

And then he told the lamentable loss 

Of great Te Rehu, Taupo's Chief — to whom 

That Maiden as they knew so well, 

From the first promise of her matchless bloom 

Had been betrothed and " tapu" It befel 



canto v.] Ranolf and Amohia. 97 

In this wise. Sometime since, continuous rain 
Softening a mountain, it had slipped amain 
Down and across a deep ravine and dammed 
A running stream, and all its waters jammed 
Between the hills, till thus repressed and choked 
Into the porous mound they slowly soaked ; 
And one fine night when all was still and dim, 
The saturate mighty mass had burst away, 
And rushing down the vale, while fast asleep 
Te Rehu and his nearest kindred lay, 
Least dreaming such a doom, had swallowed him 
And them and their whole village in a deep 
And stifling yellow mass of fluent clay, 
So overwhelming, sudden, viscous, they 
Could neither float, nor rise in it nor swim. 



VII. 

Astonished, shocked at such a tale, 
At such a death for so renowned a man, 
Low murmurs through the crowding hearers ran : 
And when the storm had to the hills retreated, 
Though still it rumbled, lumbering heavily 

In the back chambers of the sky, 
With downcast looks in treble circle seated, 
And grief, if false yet truly counterfeited, 
The summoned clansmen sung their song of wail : 
One, standing in the midst the slow sad chaunt began 

" Death, degrading, mournful, gloomy ! 
Death unfit for song or story, 
Death for a dog — a cur — a slave — 
Not for the brave ! — " ' 

7 



98 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto v. 

And all took up the chorus harsh and strong, 
In perfect time discharging groan on groan, 

While rolled a distant thunderpeal along 
In kindred and scarce deeper tone : 

" Death, O Death, how hateful, gloomy ! 
Death for a dog — a slave — a slave ! " 



Then rose the single voice in prouder strain, 
Just as the lightning flashed again : 

" Had you died the death of glory 
On the field of battle gory, 

Died the death a chief would choose, 
Not this death so sad and gloomy — 
Then with tuft and tassel plumy, 
Down of gannet — sea-king's feather, 
Gaily-waving, snowy-flecking, 
Every deep-red gunwale decking— 
Then a hundred brave canoes — 
With elated 
Warriors freighted, 
Like one man their war-chaunt chiming, 
Fierce deep cries the paddles timing, 
While the paddles' serried rows 
Like broad bird's wings spread and close- 
Through the whitening 
Waves like lightning 
Had been darting all together, 
Forward through the foam together, 
All in quest of vengeful slaughter 
Tearing through the tortured water ! " 



canto v.] Ranolf and Amohia. 99 

And from the dusky figures seated round, 

With savage satisfaction in the sound — 

A stern deep pride with sadness shadowed o'er, 

Like volleys fired above a soldier's grave, 

Rang out the chorussed thundering groans once more : 

" Ha ! a hundred brave canoes — 

Crowding, crashing, 

Darting, plashing, 
Darting, dashing through the wave ! 
Forward— forward all together, 
All in quest offoemeris slaughter. 
They had cleft the foamy water 
Seeking vengeance for the brave 
For the brave — the brave — the brave 1 " 



VIII. 

But while with stern staccato notes this song 

Of simulated sorrow rolled along, 

A genuine gladness cheered one secret breast, 

One with a grief as genuine was deprest. 

To Amohia 'twas pure joy to be 

At length from that detested contract free, 

Released from nuptials the reluctant maid 

On various pretexts had so long delayed. 

For the good Chief could ne'er be reconciled 

To use coercion with his darling child, 

Who by the dreadful " tapu " firmly bound 

Moved — a bright creature, consecrate and crowned. 

Inviolate and charmed, to ali around 



ioo Ranolf and Amoliia, [canto y. 



IX. 

The " tapu " was a fearful spell, 
Potent as creeds or guards or gold 
The power of Priest and Chieftain to uphold. 
The terrors of that ever-present Hell 

Outdid the threats of distant ones 
That faintly flame in far futurity — 
As might the roar of pointed guns 
A word would on your body bring to bear. 

The noise of thunder in the sky. 
And never did despotic cunning plan 
A fouler system for enslaving man, 
Than this mysterious scheme of fear and hate, 
The basis of their savage Church and State. 
True, the strange custom had its brighter side 
When for good ends resistless 'twas applied : 
What could compel the masses to combine 
Like it, their labor for each grand design — 
The great canoe — the long sea-sweeping seine 
Or hall for council where the chiefs convene ? 
Where could true rights a trustier guard procure, 
Corruptless and invincible and sure ? 
Yet most 'twas used as stronghold and as stay 
For the Aristocrats' and Hierarchs' sway ; 
For though swift-gathering relative and friend 
Would prompt upon a culprit's tribe descend 
And, plundering by strict rule with much ado, 
Avenge each minor breach of this ' taboo,' 
Yet, let but rank or priesthood be profaned, 
A direr doom the wretch who sinned, sustained, 
More terrible than dungeons, gibbets, chains, 
Material penance, penalties or pains. 



canto v.] Ranolf and Amohia. 101 

No high divinity that hedges kings 

Could with this sheltering deviltry compare, 

Or forge for tyranny a subtler yoke. 

For Chief and Priest at will or whim could dower 

Sticks — stones — most treasured or most trivial things 

With deadliest excommunicative power : 

And whoso touched them and the " tapu " broke 

Became anathema — accursed and banned — 

Infected and infectious ; with a pang 

Of livelier terror shrunk from — shunned — than e'er 

Plague-spotted patient — canine madness — fang 

Of rattle-snake or cobra : Fiends were there 

To torture them; obedient, at the Chief's command, 

The "Wairua," Spirits of the myriad dead — 

And ail the other invisible Spirits dread, 

All mystic powers that fill the Earth and Air, 

The " Atua " — waited but a hint from him 

To dart into their victim — waste and tear 

His stricken vitals, cankering life and limb. 

Had not the boldest who from want of heed 

Some solemn " tapu" had infringed, been known 

When conscious of the sacrilegious deed, 

To die outright from horrible fear alone ? — 

So well these savage Lords had learned 
How nature's mystic terrors might be turned 
To means their own dominion to increase ; 
Unseen executors of their caprice, 
Agents impalpable upheld their cause ; 
The world of Spirits was their dumb Police, 

And Ghosts enforced their lightest Laws. 



102 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto v, 



x. 

But he whose grief was most sincere 
The news of that unwonted death to hear, 
Was Kangapo the " Tdhunga " — a Priest 
And fell Magician famous far and near ; 
A Thaumaturge regarded with more fear 
Than any living or than most deceased. 
Men whispered that his very body swarmed 
(Crammed as a war-canoe with warriors armed) 

With evil spirits rustling thick 
As blue-flies buzzing in a wayside corse : 
And some more credulous would trembling tell 
How when demoniac inspiration quick 
And strong, in frenzy and full force 
Rushed on him (it was vouched for well) 
The grass would wither where his shadow fell ; 
Or, were the sliding shutter of his door 
Just then left open, by the river side, 
Such deadly emanations would outpour, 
Mere strangers chancing in canoes to glide 
Beneath the house, had stiffened there and died. 

These tales were Kangapo's delight and pride. 

And yet his mien that dread renown belied ; 

So calm and mild ; his eyes deepset and dark 

Abstracted still and unobservant seemed ; 

But those who dared to watch him long would mark 

How those dim eyes would on a sudden shift 

And glitter like a lizard's ; then again 

Fall still and calm ; and yet that glance so swift 

Seemed quite enough, as rapidly it gleamed, 

To single out and give his scheming brain 



canto v.] Ranolf and Amohia. 103 

All they would wish to hide or he to see. 
His voice was gentle too, and low, and sweet ; 
So men compared him to the tutu-tree, 
Whose luscious purple clusters hang so free 
And tempting, though with hidden seeds replete 
That numb with deadly poison all who eat. 
And then his pace was stealthy, noiseless, soft, 
So that a group of talking people oft 
Turned round and found him, none knew how or whence, 
Close by them, with his chilling influence : - 
\ As that great wingless loathsome locust bare, 
I That scoops from rotting trees his pithy fare, 
J With elephantine head and horny jaws 
And prickly high-propped legs — is sometimes found 
Upon your limbs or clothes, in sluggish pause, 
Inside the house ; though none upon the ground 
Have marked him crawling slow from his retreat, 
The fire-logs, when dislodged by growing heat. 

But Kangapo had reason to bewail ; 

For had he not a hundred times foretold 

That should those Western Tribes his tribe assail, 

Those famed Waikato, foemen from of old, 

Stout Tangi in the contest should prevail ? 

And whence derived he confidence to make 

That prophecy so clear, beyond mistake ? 

'Twas from the doubled strength his tribe he knew 

Would gain from an alliance close and true 

With the brave borderers of the central Lake. 

And what inducement could be found so strong 

To that alliance as the union, long 

Desired and schemed for, and as long delayed, 

Of Taupo's Chief with this surpassing maid ? 



104 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto 

But now his plans were cut up, branch and root : 
And he must task his plotting wits again 
To find some other project to maintain 
The safety of his tribe — his own repute. 
for if he failed so notably, a stain 
Would on his fame indelibly remain. 
One thing was clear ; he must not lose this lure, 
This bait, some splendid Kingfish to secure 
Among the Chiefs — this matchless girl, on whom 
Himself, o'ermastered by her beauty's bloom 
Had sometimes cast a longing eye, in vain ; 
For not his utmost art could passage gain 
Even to the threshold of her fair regard ; 
His calm, insidious, slow addresses barred 
Their own access : her very flesh would creep 
Antipathetic, shrinking to its ward 
Instinctive, from his flatteries sly and deep. 

XI. 

So anxious now his auguries he plied 

For some forecast of fate his course to guide. 

First, by the solitary shore, he drove 

His gods into the ground ; each god a stick 

Knobbed with a carved and tattoo'd wooden head, 

With fillet round the neck of feathers red ; 

Then to each idol he attached a string ; 

And in monotonous accents high and quick 

His incantations wild began to sing : 

But still the impatient patient Sorcerer strove 

With frequent jerks to make it yield a sign 

Whence might be drawn an omen of success : 

Nor this so difficult as you divine, 

Xor need the gift his Atua much distress. . 



canto v.] Ranolf and Amohia. 105 

The slightest hint a Priest for answer took ; 
Let but a grass-green parrakeet alight 
To pluck from some wild coffee-bush in sight, 
x\nd nibble with his little moving hook, 
The scarlet berries ; let some kingfisher 
Slip darting from the post whose summit grey- 
He crowned — a piece of it — the live-long day — 
Long bill protruding from his shoulders high, 
Watching the lake with sleepy-vigilant eye — 
Looking so torpid and so loath to stir, 
Till that faint silver twinkle he descry • 
Let, gold-cuirassed, some hard ichneumon-fly 
Drag with fierce efforts to its crevice nigh 
A velvet-striped big spider, sore distrest, 
Struggling in vain and doomed to be the nest 
And food of that wasp-tyrant's worm new-hatched ; 
Nay, less significant the sign might be 
For which the keen-eyed Sorcerer sung and watched ; 
A passing cloud — a falling leaf — the key 
Might offer to unlock the mystery, 
Which with his wishes surely would be matched. 



Nor could our Augur set his mind at ease 

With simple divinations such as these : 

And he was almost tempted to invoke 

The Spirits of the Dead who sometimes spoke 

Through him, the Arch-Magician and Adept ; 

Half tempted in his own case to accept 

Answers his own ventriloquism feigned ; 

Ready to square his faith to his desire, 

And half believe supernal spirits deigned 

To prompt his organs and his speech inspire : — 



106 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto 

Could nothing, think you, less than mind unsound 
Sensation with volition thus confound ? — 
But this he chose another Priest to try. 
So in their midnight haunted chamber they 
Summoned the dead, and drank in mournfully 
What the faint hollow voices seemed to say ; 
Now like the nightwind through the crannied roof 
In longdrawn whistling whisper sighing bye, 
Swelling and sinking, near and then aloof; 
Now melancholy murmuring underground, 
Then dying off, up in the starry sky. 

Such the success impostors still achieve ; 
Such Nature's final Nemesis for all 
Who teach to others what they half believe, 
To keep them fast in Superstition's thrall, 
From such a doom dreaming their own reprieve : 
Into the pits themselves have dug they fall, 
Their own deceptions do themselves deceive. 



canto vi.] Ranolf and Amohia, 107 



CANTO THE SIXTH. 



1. 

With merry laughter rang the air 

And feminine soft voices sweet ; 

And acclamations here and there 

Of loud delight at skill more rare, 

Some happy hit or dexterous feat ; 

And little shrieks at failing luck, 

The baffled aim, the striker struck ; 

As Amohia on the ground 

Amid her damsels, scarlet-crowned \ 

With kowhai-flowers, a lively ring 

Playing at l poiJ sent flying round 

The ornamented ball o'erwound 

And worked with vary-coloured threads, 

And loosely hung with dangling string 

Made fast above their rich-tressed heads — 

Fast to a single lightsome yew, 

One lone totara-tree that grew 

Beneath the hillside rising high 

Mid rocks and flowering shrubs. Hard by 

A little summer-dwelling peeped 

Deep-red, from foliage o'er it heaped 



io8 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vi. 

Deep-green and lustrous — trees that bore 

In tiny flowers their promised store, 

Large berries of autumnal gold. 

Verandah-pillars, barge-boards broad, 

And balcony and balustrade^ 

All rough and crusted with a load 

Of carved adornment quaint and bold — 

Concentric fret or face grotesque 

In rich red-ochred arabesque 

Relieved with snow-white touches — shewed 

Gaily against that glittering shade, 

The thick karakas' varnished green. 

This cheerful cot, when days were hot, 

With its interior cool and clean, 

Its floor, for fragrant orange-scent 

With faint tawhiri-leaves besprent ; 

Its roof, and walls, so neatly lined, 

Between pilasters white and red, 

With tall pale yellow reeds close-laid 

And delicately intertwined 

And diamond-laced with sable braid 

Of leaves supplied, when split and dyed, 

By that thick-tufted parasite 

Which with its fleshy blossom-bracts 

The native as a fruit attracts — 

This cot was Amo's chief delight : 

And now while yet the day was new, 

And scarce the sun had dried the dew, 

She and her handmaids sported there. 

Quick hand and eye they each and all 

Displayed, as, arms and shoulders bare 

From side to side they whisked the ball : 

Nor is much need our lay declare 



canto vi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 109 

How she, the Mistress-Maid, in face 
And form superb, and waving grace 
Of lithe elastic limb, whene'er 
The more erratic ball she tossed 
Or caught — or proud with easy air 
Regained her balance seeming lost, 
Outshone them all beyond compare. 

But see ! at once the game is stopped, 
Each mantle, in its ardor dropped, 
Snatched quickly up, at once replaced : 
In coy confusion, giggling haste, 
Up start the girls of lower grade, 
As in his sailor-garb arrayed, 
Emerging from a neighbouring patch 
Of pinky-tasselled milky maize, 
A glimpse of Ranolf s form they catch, 
And, pausing, he the game surveys. 
But Amohia calmly rose 
With courteous mien and gentle pride ; 
A moment's blush she could not hide, 
Within her eyes a moment's light, 
Upon their lids a tremor slight, 
Alone lent import to the greeting 
She gave to him whose image bright 
Had left, since that first forest-meeting 
Her busy fancy no repose. 

The youth had come prepared to stay 
With presents and persuasive speech 
Results he feared that luckless day 
Might lead to ; for the violence shown 
By his companions to atone : 



no Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vi. 

The " Wailing Sea's " just ire appease, 
And heal if such there were, the breach 
Between his former friends and these. 
But as they scaled the steep ascent 
Up to the village rampart-pent, 
With high embankments, ditches wide 
And fighting-stages fortified \ 
And passed the crooked entrance made 
Through double post and palisade 
With crossing withies braced and tied, 
The prudent Amo gave her guest 
A hint to let the matter rest ; 
And then he learnt how she had laid 
Injunction on her babbling maid 
To hold her peace ; and strange to tell 
The girl had kept the secret well. 

With blunt good-humoured haughtiness, 
A sturdy, proud and easy air 
Of sway unquestioned, frank no less, 
Did Tangi-Moana declare 
In briefest phrase how glad was he 
The stranger at his place to see. 
And then, the proffered food declined, 
To pipes and parley he resigned 
Himself, in sunshine while they basked ; 
And many things it sorely tasked 
The hoary chief, the youthful friend^ 
To illustrate, or comprehend, 
Attentive heard, acutely asked ; 
About the white man's home and land, 
Why Ranolf left it, yet so young ; — 
The tribes he knew— had dwelt among ; 



canto vi.] Ranolf and Amohia. in 

The seaward chiefs and what they planned ; 
Who were their friends and foes — and most 
The guns and powder they could boast, 
And all the wealth at their command 
From ships that trafficked on the coast. 

ii. 
Their meeting over, Ranolf strolled 
About the flat where gardens gay 
Bright in the morning sunbeams lay, 
With large-leaved roots and basking fruits 
That lolled on beds weedfree and clean 
As fairies had the gardeners been. 
Then with the younger folk, a few 
By Amo led, and one or two 
Most brisk or curious of the old, 
Crossed, paddling slow a large canoe, 
The gleaming Lake's unrippled floor 
To woody Nongotaha's shore, 
To wing the hours of sultrier heat 
With converse in a cool retreat — 
A hillside hollow, whose sun-parched 
And slippery grass of golden hue, 
Green, like the half-ripe orange, grew 
Where feathery locust-trees o'erarched 
A little plot, an airy spot 
Their yellow-blossomed branches laid 
In luxury of emerald shade. 
There Ranolf flung him down, at rest, 
With that expansion of the breast 
Exultant — all that unreprest 
Abandonment to glad emotion— 
So fair a clime, a life so free, 



H2 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto yi. 

With health and strength and buoyancy 
Of spirit in supreme degree — 
And more than all, and all enhancing, 
That blooming Child of wood and wild 
With shadowy hair and radiant face, 
That glossy glancing thing of grace 
With eyes in liquid splendour dancing. 
Or calm, as if from some high place 
Of bliss above this earthly scene 
Her soul looked forth with light serene 
No time could quench, no sorrow dim — 
Might well excite, excuse in him, 
A careless castaway of Ocean. 
Before him lay no water, say 
A hollow Sky inverted — blue, 
With flecks of sun-illumined flue, 
And mountains hung in crystal air 
With peaks above and peaks below 
Responsive — every feature fair 
Reversed, in that transparent glow 
Deep mirrored ; every ferny spur 
Each puckered slope, and wrinkle sleek 
That creased their glossy forest-fur, 
Sure at the water's edge to meet 
Its upward-running counterfeit, 
Exact as roseate streak for streak 
Some opened Venus-shell displays, 
Bivalve with answering spots and rays. 
Far round were seen, o'er thicket green, 
By sandy shore, in darksome glen, 
Cloud-jets of steam whose snowy gleam, 
But that they moved not, you would deem 
The smoke of ambushed riflemen ; 



canto vi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 113 

But peaceful these, nor passed away 
For wind or hot refulgent day : 
White, bright, and still, o'er wild and wood, 
Like new-alighted Sprites they stood, 
Pure in the brilliant breathlessness ; 
For breathless seemed the earth and sky, 
Real and reflected ; none the less 
Because at times there wandered by 
Over the sun-bathed greenery 
A soft air, lifting like a sigh 
Some tree-fern's fan, as if in sleep 
It stirred in the noon-stillness deep, 
Then sank in drowsy trance profound — 
That faint distress the only sign 
Of life o'er all the glorious sweep 
Of verdure streaming down the steep. 
So hushed the deep noon-glow around, 
So splendour-bathed that vault divine, 
The atmosphere so subtle-clear 
'Twas rapture but to breathe it ! — well 
Might these have made more sober, staid, 
Or pensive souls a moment fear 
To break the soft luxurious spell, 
The dreamy charm that wrapt the scene — 
With utterance, even the most serene. 



in. 

But Life with too much force and heat 
In these young hearts impetuous beat 
For Silence ; so the livelong day 
The stream of converse grave or gay 
From springs redundant flowed alway. 



H4 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vi. 

Their superstitions, legends, lays, 
Could endless disquisitions raise ; 
And our Adventurer, still inclining, 
Though neither sad nor very serious, 
To all that bore on Man's mysterious 
Links with the Life there's no divining — 
Learnt how for them, invisible throngs 
Of Spirits roamed all visible Space : 
All Nature was a human Face — 
A Sybil w T ith a thousand tongues 
And teachings for their priests to trace, 
Excite, evoke with charms and songs : 

All Matter was all symbol — fraught 

With Love and Hate — with Will and Thought : 

Within a Man's own frame — without, 

Above, below, and all about, 

Nothing beyond his will that stirred, 

His limbs in dreaming, beast or bird, 

Insect or thing inanimate, 

But 'twas oracular of Fate : 

The wild bird's song, the wild dog's bark, 

Were mystic omens, bright or dark ; 

A leaf could wave, a breeze could blow 

Intelligence of weal or woe ; 
Let but the wind creep through your lifted hair, 
Some God was present there ; 

And if a rainbow overspanned 
A hostile band, 

Already 'twas as good as crushed. — 
And then their legends — once again 

Recastings from the ancient mould ; 

Gods, demigods and heroes old 
Of giant bulk and dwarfish brain. 



canto vi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 

Greek, Gothic, Polynesian — all 

Primeval races on a train 

Of like ideas, conceptions, fall ; 

Their supernatural Beings still 

Are but themselves in ways and will \ 

And still the Superhuman race 

Keeps with the human steady pace ; 

What Man would be — what Man has been, 

Through magnifying medium seen 

Still makes his God or Gods that grow 

With his Soul's growth — its reflex show 

By grand Imagination's glass 

Dilated ; its best thoughts — the mass 

Of noblest feelings that exist — 

Projected with expanding rays 

Upon Eternity's dim haze, 

Like Brocken Shadows on the mist. 

And was it not so planned to give 

Mankind a fit provocative, 

At every stage from birth to age, 

The best devised to speed the Soul 

Towards Adoration's utmost goal ? 

To guide his infancy and youth, 

Too weak to see the summits fair, 

Up an ascending mountain-stair 

To highest hidden peaks of Truth ? 

And so Religion's self endow 

With that continuous life and glow 

Discovery lends, though painful, slow : 

That interest ever fresh and warm 

Which Science boasts her greatest charm ? 

Though slow indeed Religion's rise 

Even to a glimpse of purer skies ; 



ii 6 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vi. 

Though foul and stagnant if you will 
The fens and swamps that clog her still 

But here the legendary lore 
The stamp of earliest ages bore ; 
The stories told were wild and rude, 
Insipid mostly, pointless, crude : 
The simple guile, the childish wile, 
With savage deeds of blood and ire, 
And treacheries dull for vengeance dire ; 
Gods, giants, men, all blood-imbrued. 
Uncouth the wondrous feats rehearsed, 
With lighter fancies interspersed : 
Recounted frankly, best and worst, 
Since none were met with sneer or scoff : 
— How Maui fished these Isles up first, 
And Kupe chipped the islets off; 
— How Tinirau — vain Chief ! the same 
Who broad transparent pools outlaid 
Of water, which the mirrors made 
Where he his beauteous shape surveyed, 
Was yet of giant power to tame 
The great Leviathan he kept, 
A plaything and a pet, who came, 
Obedient from his boundless home — 
Through sinking hill and swirling trough 
Of Ocean, black through snowy foam, 
With ponderous swiftness crashing swept — 
Whene'er he summoned him by name; 
Or rolling over, at a sign 
From him, would smash the level brine 
Into great clouds of powdery spray, 
With thunder-slaps heard miles away. 



canto vi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 117 

— How Pitaka would noose and draw 

Out of Earth's bowels by main strength, 

Out of his mountain-dungeon fell, 

Like periwinkle from its shell, 

The bulkiest time-worn Taniwha ; 

Undaunted by his tortuous length 

Of notched and scaly back — his jaw 

Wide-yawning, and obscenest maw 

With bones and greenstone trinkets filled, 

And weapons of his swallowed prey — 

Men, women, children, countless killed 

By this, of ancient tale and lay 

The wingless dragon — rather say 

Iguanodon or Lizard vast, 

Some caverned monster left the last 

Memento of a world bygone 

Earth's grinding changes had o'erthrown, 

Downliving with still lessening powers 

Into this foreign world of ours : 

— Then, too, how Marutiia drew 

His dragnets round a hostile crew, 

The thousand men he snared and slew — 

Beguiled to feast upon the strand 

And lend their seeming friend a hand 

In some great fishing-bout he planned : 

— How Hatu-patu, as he lay 

Couched in a rimu-tree one day, 

Still as a tufted parasite, 

A mere excrescence, not to fright 

The birds that would close by alight, 

Nor mark his lithe and bending spear 

Along the branch more near and near 

Creep slowly as a thing that grew, 



n8 Ratwlf and Amohia. [canto vi. 

Until with sudden thrust and true 

The noiseless weapon pierced them through— 

Himself was quite unconscious too, 

As thus he lay like one spell-bound, 
What long-curved claws were slowly stealing round 

The stem — or cautiously withdrew — 
Slowly retracted — then again protruded 

Amid the leafy shadows playing 

Upon the sunny- chequered trunk, 

Noiseless as they and unbetraying 

The lank and gaunt Witch-giantess 

That wholly hid, behind it slunk ; 

Until he found himself, the watcher, 

Grim-clutched, and not the poor fly-catcher ; 

Then in her cavern-home secluded 

Was kept in cruel-kind duresse 

To be as best he might, moreover, 

That Patu-paere's pet and lover ! 

IV. 

And next, fair Amo's handmaid — she 
Whose gaze of wondering curious glee 
Would Ranolf's gestures, looks — pursue, 
So pleasant seemed they, strange and new ; 
Who, if his lively, joyous glance 
Alit upon the little maid, 
Would start half-back, as if afraid 
And half-disposed to run away, 
With look averted though so gay, 
And face half-hidden, and a play 
Of giggling blushes, bright and shy ; 
Then with brown eyes — that all the day 
Would else with mirth and mischief dance, 



canto vi. ] Ranolf and A mohia. 1 1 9 

Keeping a sheltering friend close by, 

Would snatch a serious look askance, 

As quickly turned aside again 

Lest she be caught in that assay ; — 

All with an artless sympathy, 

An interest undisguised and plain — 

Such fresh unconscious coquetry ! 

Though little noticed by the rest 

Because with fancies of their own, 

Thoughts, feelings hitherto unknown, 

Too much amused and prepossest ; — 

This shy and saucy Miroa told, 

With fluttering breath, slight-heaving breast, 

Looking at any but the guest 

To whom her story was addrest — 

How merry Rona, reckless, bold, 

Wetting one evening in a stream 

The leaves to make her oven steam, 

Cursed the fair innocent Moon aloud, 

Because she hid behind a cloud, 

And Rona when the light was gone, 

Struck her foot against a stone ; 
And how the solemn Moon in anger came 
Broadening and reddening down, and wound 

Her bright entangling beams around 
The affrighted Maid in vain resisting, 
Like a vast Cuttlefish around her twisting 
A hundred writhing trunks of chilly flame ; 

Then rose with basket, Maid and all, 

And fixed them in her amber ball — 
" And this is fact for certain — doubt who will, 
Wait only till the Moon shall fill 
Her horns — there's Rona with her basket still !" 



120 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vi. 



" A pretty fancy, pretty one ! " 

Said Ranolf when the tale was done ; 

" Come here, my child— let me repay 

Your story — it will suit your hair 

This ribbon, though not half so gay, 

So beauteous as the wreath you wear." 

And as the laughing girls beside, 

Caught, pushed her forward, held her there, 

The ribbon round her head he tied, 

For some such purpose brought ; while she 

A-tremble with delighted pride, 

With pettish mock reproaches, aimed 

At them, not him, seemed, half-ashamed, 

Half-angry, struggling to get free. 



Then Amohia, tapping Ranolf s arm, 
Said, " Listen, Pakeha ! "*— and with lifted hand, 
Rounding — Enchantress-wise, 
When double soul she throws into a charm— 
The solemn archness of her great black eyes, 

Deep lighted like a well, 
An ancient legend she began to tell 
Of one God-hero of the land, 
Of which our faithful lay presents 
Precisely the main incidents, 
Diluting only here and there 
The better its intent to reach, 
The language, so condensed and bare, 
Those clotted rudiments of speech : 

* Foreigner. 



canto vi.] Raiiolf and Amohia. 121 



" Once a race, the Pona-turi — in the oozy depths of Ocean, 
Fierce, uncouth, in gloomy glory, lived where light is none, 

nor motion. 
More than anything created, Light, their bane, their death, 

they hated ; 
So for Night they ever waited ere ashore they seal-like 

clambered 
To their house ManaVa-tane — their great mansion lofty 

chambered ; 
Whence, if e'er a windy Moon had caught them, you would 

see them hieing 
Homeward — sable shapes beneath the crisping silver floating, 

flying, 
Swift as scattered clouds on high their snowy courses gaily 

plying. 

" Young Tawhaki, well he knew them — did they not his 

Father mangle ? 
Hang his fleshless bones, a scarecrow, ghastly from their 

roof to dangle ? 
Keep his Mother too, a slave, each day to give them timely 

warning 
Ere dark Sky from Earth uplifting left the first gold gap of 

morning ? 

{< Vengeance with his Mother then he plotted. So by day- 
light hiding 

In their houseroof-thatch he couched, his slimy foes' arrival 
biding. 

Darkness comes ; they land in swarms ; their spacious House 
they crowd and cumber ; 



122 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vt. 

Revel through the midnight reckless ; drop at last in weary 

slumber. 
Like the distant Ocean's roaring sinks and swells the mighty 

snoring. — 
Out then steals Tawhaki chuckling ; long ere day begins to 

brighten, 
Stops up every chink in doorway, window, that could let the 

light in : 
And the snoring goes on roaring ; or if any Sleeper 

yawning 
Turned him restless, thinking, ' Surely it must now be near 

the dawning,' 
Growling, ' Slave, is daylight breaking ? are you watching, 

are you waking ? ' 
Still the Mother answered blandly, ' Fear not, I will give you 

warning — 
Sleep, O sleep, my Pona-turi — there are yet no streaks of 

morning ! ' 

" So the snoring goes on roaring. Now above the mountains 
dewy, 

High the splendour-God careers it — great Te Ra, the Tama 
Nul* 

Sudden cries Tawhaki's Mother, \ Open doors a?id windows 
quickly ! 

Every stop-gap tear out, dear out ! On them pour the sun- 
beams thickly ! ' 

Through the darksome Mansion — through and through those 
Sons of Darkness streaming 

Flash the spear-flights of the Day-God — deadly-silent— 
golden-gleaming ! 

* Te Ra — the Sun. Tama Nui — the "great Son" of the Heavens 
and Earth. 



canto vi,'] Ranolf and Amohia, 123 

Down they go, the Pona-turi ! vain their struggles, yells and 

fury ! 
Like dead heaps of fishes stranded by the Storm-spray, 

gaping — staring — 
Stiffened — so astonished, helpless, lay they in the sunbeams 

glaring : 
Fast as shrink upon the shelly beach, those tide-left discs 

of jelly ; 
Fast as leathery fungus-balls in yellow dust-clouds fuming 

fly off, 
So they shrink, they fade, they wither, so those Imps of 

Darkness die off ! — " 

" Manawa-tane ! ' breath or lije 

Of Man ' — no doubt ; a race at strife 

With Light ! — were this a German tale, 

Not artless Maori, who could fail 

To hit its sense, extract its pith, 

So pregnant, palpable a Myth ! " 

Thought Ranolf listening. " Darkness breeds 

A swarm of superstitious creeds 

That crush Man's Spirit till it bleeds ; 

His Father — God ! yes, him they clearly 

A terror make, a scarecrow merely — 

High up — unmoved — dry bones or worse 

To his abandoned Universe : 

His Mother, Earth — her wealth— her worth — 

Her schools — thrones — churches — mind and might — 

Enslaved so long, set day and night 

To warn and war against the Light, — 

Free Thought, the beautiful, the bright ! 

Whose Sons not seldom from their eyes 

Shut out, dissemble and disguise 



124 Ranolf and Atnohia. [canto vi. 

Its full results — half-veil its rays 

(Till they shall gather to a blaze ?) 

And fondly feign they nurse no seeds 

Of death to all those narrow creeds : 

Howe'er that be, the Sun will soar ! 

His foes may slumber, rave, or roar — 

Yet Dayspring spreads o'er sea and shore — 

And now, even now, for all their din, 

The killing Light is streaming in ! — 

But I attend. Bright-Eyes, proceed ; 

Your Myth seems one who runs may read !" 

" Now, of heavenly birth to cheer him — beauteous from 

those blue dominions, 
Hapae came — divine — a damsel — floating down on steady 

pinions ; 
Came, a moving moonbeam, nightly lit with Love his 

chamber brightly : 
Till that Spring-time of her bosom flushed out in a baby- 
blossom. 
Infant, it had infant's failings. These as once he eyed the 

bantling, 
Scornfully Tawhaki jeered at. Straightway all the mother 

mantling 
In her heart, her treasure Hapae caught up ; to her plumy 

vesture 
Pressed it nestling ; then upspringing with reproachful look 

and gesture, 
Sailed off to her skiey mansion, vanished in the blue 

expansion, 
Like an Albatross that slides into the sunset, — whitely fading 
With its fixed rare-winking vans, away into the crimson 

shading. 



canto vi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 12$ 

Only ere she parted, while the lagging Westwind she 

invited 
Flapping her broad wings, a-tiptoe on the mannikin alighted 
(Red, with arms akimbo on its knees, the gable-apex 

crowning) 
One advice she waved Tawhaki, more with grief than anger 

frowning : 
1 If you ever feel the Child and Mother to your heart grow 

dearer, 
Ever wish to follow and to find us, O unkindly sneerer, 
And would climb by tree-dropt trailers to the Sky a little 

nearer, 
O remember, leave the loose ones ; only take and trust to 

surely 
Such as hung from loftiest treetops, root themselves in earth 

securely ! ' 

" Many a moon he mourned — Tawhaki. Then he started 

to discover 
Where they grew, those happy creepers, that could help a 

hapless lover. 
Many a moon he roamed — Tawhaki. And his heart was 

sore and weary 
When he found himself despondent in a forest grand and 

dreary ; 
(Ah ! that wildering wild wood — who can tell how dense it 

was and tangled !) 
Where in wanton woody ringlets many a rope of trailers 

dangled. 
Rapt, absorbed in her pursuit, a blind old Crone those 

creepers tended ; 
Caught at, groped and felt for any that within her reach 

descended. 



126 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vr. 

He, an ancestress discerning, ere for counsel he implored her, 
Touched her eyes, a charm repeating, and to sight at once 

restored her. 
Then they found a creeper rooted, finely for his purpose 

suited. 
Up he went exultingly, bold-hearted, joyous-eyed, firm-footed. 
At the treetop, see ! a tiny spiderthread upshooting shiny, 
Wavering, viewless half, yet ever held aloft by mere endeavour ! 
With a beating heart, Tawhaki, muttering many an incanta- 
tion — 
Wild with hope so high it takes the very hue of desperation, 
Clasps the clue so evanescent ; then with yearnings deep, 

incessant, 
Seeing in the vault above him only Hapae's eyes that love 

him, 
Up and up, for ever upward mounts he dauntless — nothing 

scares him, 
Up through azure bright Abysses still that thread in triumph 

bears him ! 
Suddenly a sunny grove is round him — cheery people working 
At a great Canoe, appear. All day he keeps the thicket, 

lurking, 
Till when balmy Shadow veils them and serenest Sleep 

assails them 
Stripping off his youthful glory, out he steals, an old Man 

hoary ; 
Strikes a few swift strokes, and magic-like the work is ended — 
Graceful with its lofty stern, with open-circled fretwork 

splendid, 
Lo ! the great Canoe completed ! To his copse he then 

retreated ; 
On another hollowed trunk next night the wonderwork 

repeated. 



canto vl] Ranolf and AmoJiia. 127 

— Those Celestials marvelled greatly ; yet reflecting in their 

pleasure 
Such a worker were a treasure as a Slave beyond all measure, 
Watched and clutched that Old Man wilful — so decrepit yet 

so skilful, 
And to their great Ruler bore him. — O delight ! who sits 

before him? 
Tis his beautiful benign One, 'tis his downy-plumed divine 

one, 
Hapae ! will he now deride her or the subtle Elf beside 

her!— 
Kindly greeted, with caresses he the Child allures and 

presses 
To his heart no more to sever. Then, as he flings off for ever 
That disguise's dim defilement, Hapae smiles sweet recon- 
cilement ; 
Swift, the Child they bathe, baptize it, lustral waters o'er it 

dashing ; 
And Tawhaki — breast and brow sublime insufferably flashing, 
Hid in lightnings, as he looks out from the thunder-cloven 

portals 
Of the sky — stands forth confest — a God and one of the 

Immortals !" 

" More myth and deeper " — murmured he 

As Amo rose and bid them wait 

Her quick return : " But how translate 

In German style the mystery ? — 

Shall Hapae our Urania be ? 

The 'meaning not the name ' were she ? — 

And if Philosophy Divine 

Whose radiant features wont to shine 

With heavenly splendour, hopes so rare, 

To Man's enfranchised Soul resign 



128 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vi. 

Her charms celestial ; — if their Child 

Hight Science seem at first defiled 

With taint its infancy may wear — 

Materialism — foul Despair — 

Shall he the wondrous birth despise ? 

Perhaps of those imperial ties 

With Reason, free Enlightenment, 

That marriage made in heaven, repent — 

Until his fair Urania flies 

Despondent to her native skies ? 

No, but from her he cannot sever — 

Can ne'er resist the lofty lure 

Of those aspiring eyes so pure ! 

His must she be, to forfeit never, 

His hopeful, heavenly One for ever ! 

But where to seek the Angel flown ? — 

Can that dark forest overgrown 

Be Metaphysics ? And the crone 

So watchworn, Kant or Hegel is't ? 

Some mighty Transcend entalist ? 

Or some serene Sensationist 

With both his blinkers on ? content, 

Nay proud, with his old-fashioned bent 

(Anile, perhaps ?) to take and teach 

Just what his eyes and hands can reach ? — 

Well ! let the climber cling through all 

To truths they call ' phenomenal,' 

Well-rooted in the circle small 

Of our perceptions ; and ne'er doubt, 

That, sown and springing from without \ 

These parasites upon the Tree 

Of shadowy-leaved Humanity, 

(Like those depending trailers, sprung 

From floating seeds sky-dropt and flung 



canto vi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 129 

Upon the bark wherefrom they shoot 
And reaching Earth take firmer root) — 
These, even these, shall point the way, 
The outlet find, some happy day, 
By triple-plied deductions, say, 
Or if by subtler clue it be, 
Some thread of fine analogy, 
To regions fair and fertile, where 
Undimmed by dense refracting Sense, 
Far in the Unapparent shine 
Truths and assurances divine 
Of God and deathless life confest, 
Where the sad Wanderer sore distrest 
May glad once more upon the breast 
Of his regained Urania rest ! — 

" With yet more truth the legend teems. 
Man's heaven's a heaven of Work it seems ; 
Yet though his matchless Art reduce 
The World of Matter to his use ; 
Carve out that grand design, until 
Its primal Force start forth compliant, 
His Science-Lamp's good Genie-Giant, 
Ardent to help him at his will, 
Achieve whate'er that will may dare, 
To walk the sea or ride the air — 
Nay, though his potent patient skill 
Work subtler witcheries, stranger still — 
Take weeds and turn their downy fluff 
To magic mirrors that retain 
Whate'er impress of loveliness 
May, flitting by, their surface stain ; 
Take light, and its fine rays unravel 



130 Ranolf and AmoJiia* [canto v 

Till they betray the inmost stuff 

The stars are made of whence they travel ; 

Through continents and Ocean-caves 

Whisper a lightning-language ; yet 

Not this alone his nature craves — 

All these a loftier race may set 

As tasks and triumphs fit for slaves 

"Who cannot reach a nobler goal 

Nor conquer truths that touch the Soul ! 



" All fancy this ! invention pure ; 
That credulous complaisant whim 
With its foregone conclusions trim 
To which no Oracles are dim. 
No doting prophecies obscure. 
Myths may be construed many ways ; 
Things take a hundred shapes in haze; 
In this world, like as Child and Mother, 
Matter and Spirit ape each other, 
Into each other shift and run — 
(Beth, better known, may turn out one) 
And type and antitype around 
In all things may be feigned or found. 
Yet for all this, most true it is, 
That savage story strangely rings 
With echoes of profoundest things ; 
Glows with the old celestial yearning ; 
Nay glimmers with a faint discerning 
How nought can stifle or repress 
Man's upward tendency — the stress 
Towards ampler Being, nothing less 
Than high immortal Happiness." 



canto vil] Ranolf and Amoliia. 131 



CANTO THE SEVENTH. 



1. 

Then Amohia, who, her story ended, 

Had left the group, returned, not unattended. 

A sturdy stripling by her side, 
Te Manu, to herself by blood allied, 
Coal-curled, brown-cheeked, with beardless chin — 
Good-humour broadly shining in his wide 
Black eyes and teeth white-glistening through a grin — 
Came from the beach where the canoe was tied, 
And on the ground before the Stranger placed, 

That he the first might touch and taste, 

In flax-wov'n basket for a dish, 

A dainty pile of delicate fish 
In native style deliciously steam-drest, 
Like whitebait some ; some boiled bright red, 

The small cray-fish in myriads bred, 
With sunk fern-bundles lifted from the Lake : 
Next, roasted fern-root pounded to a cake, 
Milkwhite and floury ; and the choicer roots, 
The new potato and its substitutes, 
The kumara and tdro. Then a store 
Of jellies, ruddy-clear as claret, pressed 
And well preserved from fruits last season bore, 



132 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vii. 

Rich clusters of tuftdki, luscious sweet ; 
With water mixed their noontide thirst to slake, 
An innocent beverage truly ! Rude the light 
Repast, and simply wholesome at the best ; 
Yet scrupulously clean withal, it might 
Have satisfied a more fastidious guest. 



11. 

And when the talk began again, 
Said Ranolf, " How do you explain, 
You Maori, how the heavens were hung 
Up there ? who spread the azure main ? 
Whence Man and all things living sprung ? " 

Prompt was an ancient Dame's reply, 
Of wrinkled cheek yet lively eye, 
Who took the pipe from her blue lips 
And sate in grizzled dignity, 
Proud of her crest that towered so high 
Of hcopoe-feathers, black with snowy tips ;- 
Prompt was that ancient Dame's reply — 
Compact her scheme of rude Cosmogony : 



" There was Night at the first — the great Darkness. Then 
Pahpa, the Earth, ever genial, general Mother, 

And our Father, fair Rangi — the Sky — in commixture un- 
bounded confusedly clave to each other; 

And between them close cramped lay their children gigantic 
—all Gods. He the mightiest, eldest, the Moulder 

And Maker of Man — whose delight is in heroes — Tumatau — 
the Courage-inspirer, the Battle-upholder ; 



canto vii.] Ranolf and AmoJiia. 133 

Tangaroa, far-foaming, the Sire of the myriads that silvery 

cleave the cerulean waters ; 
And the solemn and beauteous Tane, who gathers his 

stateliest, ever-green, tress-waving daughters 
Into forests, the sunny, the songster-bethridden ; then Rongo 

— the peaceful, the kindly provider 
Of the roots that with culture are milkiest, pithiest ; he too, 

who flings them in wilder and wider 
Profusion uncultured, nor needing it — Haumia ; lastly, the 

fiercest of any, the Rider 
Of Tempests — Tawhiri, joy-wild when his sons — when the 

Winds multitudinous rush with the rattle 
Of hail and the sting of sharp showers and the hurry of 

turbulent clouds to aerial battle. 
All these did the weight of vast Rangi o'erwhelm; there 

restlessly, rampantly, brother on brother 
Lay writhing and wrestling in vain to get free from the 

infinite coil and confusion and smother ; 
Till the forest-God, Tane, with one mighty wrench irresistible 

prized his great parents asunder — 
With his knotty and numberless talons held down — held the 

Earth and its mountain magnificence under, 
Heaved the Heavens aloft with a million broad limbs shot 

on high, all together rebounding, resilient : 
Then at once came the Light interfused, interflowing — 

serenely soft-eddying — crystalline — brilliant ! — 
Now the Sons all remained with the Earth but Tawhiri ; he, 

sole, in tempestuous resentment receding 
Swept away at the skirts of his Father — the Sky ; but swiftly 

to vengeance and victory leading 
His livid battalions, returned in his terrors, his kindred with 

torment and torture to harry : 
Tangaroa rolled howling before him — even Tane bowed 

down ; could his blast-be split progeny parry 



134 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vii. 

His blows, or withstand the full pelt of his torrents that flung 

them o'er wastes of white Ocean to welter ? 
Could Rongo do more ere he fled than conceal in the warmth 

of Earth's bosom his children for shelter ? — 
Xo ! they shrank from the Storm-God amazed and affrighted. 

One brother — Tumatau — alone durst abide him, 
Tumatau and Man stood before him unswerving, deserted by- 
all, disregarded, defied him ! 
But Man that defection still punishes daily; with snare, net 

and spear still their offspring he chases, 
Tangaroa's and Tane's — the feathered — the finny ; still turns 

up and tears from her tender embraces 
All that Rongo has laid in the lap of his Mother ; while 

fiercely Tawhiri still plagues all their races — 
Ever wreaks his wild anger on blue Tangaroa, and whirls 

into spray-wreaths the billows he lashes — 
On the Earth whose rich berries and blossoms he scatters 

and scathes ; on the forests he splinters and crashes; 
And on Man who stands firm when his thunder is loudest 

and laughs when his lightning incessantly flashes !" 

in. 
Said Amohia, " In your heart you laugh ; 
You think all this is nonsense, to-e, ' chaff ; ' 
Nay then, O Stranger, answer in your turn, 

For still the Sun is riding high, 
Of his beginning — of the birth 
Of all things, Sea and Sky and Earth, 
What from their Sages do the white men learn?" 

Silent he scanned an instant's space 
The open eyes, the candid face 
Of the enquiring earnest Maid ; 



canto vil] Ranolf and Amohia. \ 

Then as a half-satiric smile 
Twitched at the corners of his mouth, the while 
Lurked in his eyes a sly malicious twinkle, 

Rushed off into a wild tirade — 
Not caring if his words were clear or dim, 
Only obedient to the moment's whim, 
Somewhat like this ; — for we must sprinkle 
With phrases freer, fuller and more flowery, 
Than match the rudeness of his simple Maori — 

Omitting interruptions too 

And explanations not a few — 
The terms the careless youth employed 
To give to her whose wonder he enjoyed, 
Some notion of the Deity — the greatest 
By Science hit on — or at least, the latest : 

" There's a God they call Motion ; a wonderful Being, 
Omnipresent, omnipotent ! thinking and seeing, 
All life, birth, existences, creatures, conditions, 
Of his versatile skill ever-new exhibitions, 
Are but phases his phantasy, subtle or simple, 
Condescends to assume ; from the faintest first dimple 
He indents in the vapour that veils him — beginning 
As he slides to a pirouette graceful and winning, 
Such a whirl of Creation, such Universe-spinning — 
To his last of developments dense or ethereal, 
When as Consciousness crowned with a halo imperial, 
Though but grovelling in granules and cells ganglionic 
In the brain of Mankind sits the grand Histrionic ! 
'Tis the strangest and stoutest of creeds and convictions- 
'Tis a God that defies and disdains contradictions : 
His adorers, though puzzled perhaps to say whether 
He is they, or they he, they are mixed so together ; — 



136 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vii. 

Though himself best proclaims his own glory Protean 

When as lightning he dances with worship Judsean, 

Or intones as deep thunder his own Io-Paean ; — 

Though reluctant and shy to acknowledge, avow him — 

Yet with all that is precious and priceless endow him. 

At the shrine of this Pagod they immolate gaily 

Aspirations Humanity feeds upon daily ; 

There consume, with serene suicidal devotion 

Whole heart-loads of lofty and tender emotion, 

All the foredawn of gold over Life's darksome ocean : 

And they vary his victims with Logic — no little ; 

Never spare Common Sense — not a fraction — nor tittle ; 

Show no mercy for Sciences, moral or mental ; 

And for Metaphysicians — the tribe transcendental, 

Would burn them to cinders — a holocaust ; striving 

On the ashes to keep their Divinity thriving. 

For strange though it seem, this Almighty Mechanic, 

Undesigning Designer of all things organic, 

Comes from nowhere himself : his own Father and Mother — 

Never caused though all-causing — derived from no other ; 

And arranges, combines for such orderly courses 

His myriad myriads of multiform forces, 

By accident only — repulsion — attraction — 

Into beautiful symmetry, uniform action ; 

By merest unconscious haphazard produces 

Profound adaptations to infinite uses ; 

And as helplessly, stolidly stumbles on wonders, 

With as little intention, as others on blunders ; 

Deaf and dumb, and stone blind, can make eyes, ears and 

voices, 
Till with Beauty — Light — Music — all Nature rejoices ; 
Nay, unconscious beforehand arrives in due season 
By dint of mere going, at Thought, Sense and Reason ; 



canto vii.] Ranolf and AmoJiia. 137 

With no Mind, makes all Mind — that fine consummation, 

That can trace the back steps of the blind operation ; 

Aye can soar on the wings of sublime calculation 

O'er the flaming far ramparts of star-filled Creation. 

So this Fetish — this Stock-God, this Impulse unguided, 

With no aim and no sense, yet success so decided, 

Still is fashioning Matter by no one provided 

Into Minds like vast Mountains a World overviewing ; — 

With no better notion of what he is doing, 

Hits off Shakspeares and Newtons and Csesars and Platos — 

Than the logs on the ashes which roast your potatoes : 

And the men who consider this creed satisfactory 

And would smile with mild pity on Sceptics refractory, 

Poor crawlers who crowd to a house with a steeple, — 

Are — some of the wisest and best of our people" 



To this effusion nought replied 

The listeners ; only said aside, 

" The Stranger mocks us ;" quietly — 

Too courteous for expressed dissent, 

Too proud to show astonishment 

Or ignorance of their Guest's intent. 

That laughing lunch-purveyor, he 

Only to Miroa muttered low : 

" A tito this — a fib, I know ; 

'Tis nothing like what Mapou says 

Of their white Atua and his ways ; 

And he can tell, who visits most 

And learns all news that reach the coast. 

This Stranger too," — and here the grin 

Grew broader, — " by his dress at least 

Is not a Tohunga, a Priest ; 



138 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto v 

For Mapou says, they always go 

In shining black from top to toe, 

With two white plumes beneath their chin, 

Just like that Tu-i, Mapou thought." 

And Ranolf smiled, whose quick ear caught 

The fancy, as he saw just then 

The bird they spoke of, down the glen 

Come dashing, with its glossy coat 

Like jet-black satin shot with green 

And blue reflexions — at its throat 

Two dainty-pencilled plumes of snow ; 

And once again admired, as oft 

Before, its lively ways and note ; 

As flitting, shifting to and fro 

It ransacked every kowhai-tree 

In yellow bloom, and loudly coughed 

And loudly whistled in its glee, 

And turned quite over, bending low 

Its busy head to reach and dip 

Into the pendent flowers and sip 

Their juice, in fluttering glad unrest, 

Unceasing in its honey-quest. 

" That may be true," said Miroa, " too ; 
For 'tis averred they are like a bird 
In this (although it seems a joke) 
They cannot speak like other folk, 
But always sing what they would say, 
E'en when they to their Atua pray." 
— But here that feather-crested Dame 
Who this light chatter overheard 
Rebuked them — feeling it became 
Her sage experience to repress 



canto vil] Ranolf and Amohia. 139 

Such sallies of mere sauciness : 
" Oh foolish you ! we always do 
Ourselves in all our prayers the same ! 
Do we not sing for all we want? 
May they not know some potent chaunt 
To charm their Atua from his haunt, 
As we coax eels to leave the mud ?" — 

Such reasoning they could not gainsay, 
It nipped their satire in the bud. 

IV. 

Meanwhile, another Guest had been 

Among them, though unnoticed and unseen ; 

Joining their converse with no audible tongue, 

And speaking mystic Music without sound ; 

On whose mute melodies the listener hung ; 

Whose viewless Presence brightened all around. 

Who should it be but that Consoler dear, 

Heartwhispering Paraclete of priceless cheer — 

Who but the Enchanter — Love ? whose witchery flings 

Fresh life round Daybreak's life-enlivening springs ; 

Heaps Noon on Noon for fervour ; double-dyes 

For deeper pathos Eve's empurpled skies. 

Did he not use his artless Art that day 

With slightest means most meaning to convey ? 

Some idle question asked as if in sport, 

Some falter in the tone or breath drawn short — 

Some touch of tapering fingers — touch so fleet, 

They seem, just seem, as they a moment meet, 

To linger ere they leave the contact sweet ? 

Or scorning all less subtle ministries 

Did He not speak through Amohia's eyes, 

Whose lids and raven lashes though they fell 



140 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vii. 

Dark as a closing bird's wing o'er their light 

Upon her rich warm cheek, could never quite 

Shut in their lustrous tenderness, nor quell 

Their rebel glances eloquent of Him, 

More than the mother-bird can fold with hers 

Her crowd of small quick-running loiterers 

So closely, safely, that no single one 

Of all the nestling, jostling train 

May slip a moment out into the sun, 

Although next moment gathered in again ; 

Whene'er that brooding mother sees 

The stiff-stretched hawk across the blue vault swim ; 

As once or twice amid the trees 
Had Amohia marked the Priest appear, 
(Though vanishing almost as soon as seen) 
With eyes inscrutable and dim 
Watching herself and Ranolph ; though with mien 
Not threatening now, malignant nor severe, 

Whatever cause she had to fear. 
— But who could tell what hatred fell, 
What dark designs might not be found 
Within his heart whose face no less 
Was such a smooth and placid screen ? — 

How many a man amid the press, 
Is but a walking Wilderness, — 
Like some fierce Ameer's hunting-ground 
By lofty walls concealed, confined : 
Caverns interminable wind, 
Abysses yawn, those walls behind ; 
There wild beasts prowl and moan and howl 
Of lust and greed and all excess ; 
They peer and pry who wander by — 
The smooth fair walls are all they spy. 



canto vii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 141 



But little of his looks recked they, 

Which though they keenly glanced their way 

Did yet no ill intent betray. 

So from redundant springs all day 

Flowed streams of converse, grave and gay. 



142 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto viij 



CANTO THE EIGHTH. 



O'er all the East the sunset's flush 
From plain to peak began to rise 3 
That slowly-fading fever flush 
Of beauteous Day before she dies. 
The friends again had reached the Isle 
And for a little space had parted \ 
Those elder women kindly-hearted 
About the evening meal employed : 
Their guest had strolled away awhile, 
And by the Lake the painted eve enjoyed: 
There, tempted after all the sweltering heat 
By the cool water glistening black 
In shade behind a green spur's shelving back, 
Which seemed a place for bathing meet, 
Had passed some wooded rocks upon his right 
Into a thicket where karakas veiled 
The path in gloom almost as dark as night— 
When from behind lie felt himself assailed 
By ambushed men unseen, unknown ; 
Before he could resist was overpowered • 
A mantle o'er his head was thrown, 
His arms and feet fast pinioned ; nor availed 






canto viil] Ranolf and Amohia. 143 

His stifled shouts, the threats and taunts he showered 

Upon his dastard foes, who answered nought 

But with determined silence and one will 

Their struggling captive rapidly conveyed 

O'er rocks and rooty paths (he thought) 

Where branches oft their way opposed 

Into some place from outer air enclosed ; 

For cooler seemed and yet more still 
The atmosphere ; and on his sense the smell 
Of the dried rushes used in buildings fell. 
There on the ground the luckless youth they laid ; 
And when a sliding panel was made fast 
With cautious footsteps out of hearing passed. 

11. 
Now left alone, the youth contrived to free 
His head, and strove his prison-place to see. 
All round was sombre darkness ; but it teemed 
With great white ghastly eyes that strangely gleamed 
With pink and silvery flashings here and there, 
And seemed to float and throb in the dun air ; 
Then by degrees grew motionless, and fixed 
On him one savage and concentred gaze ; 
And slowly he discerns, those eyes betwixt, 
Features gigantic — furious — in amaze ; 
Wild brows upbranching broad, yet corrugate 
With close-knit frowns ferocious ; blubber lips 
Stretched wide as rage and mockery can strain 
Mouths — monstrous as the Shark's, when 'mid the ship's 
Exultant crew he gnashes in dumb pain — 
That grin grotesque, intense and horrible hate, 
And thrust out sidelong tongues that from their root 
The very frenzy of defiance shoot 



144 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vm. 

So, with malignant and astonished stare 
They gaze, as if the intruder's blood to freeze. 

At length, accustomed to the gloom, he sees 
What dwarfish forms those ponderous heads upbear ; • 
Their crooked tortoise-legs, club-curved and short ; 
Their hands, like toasting-forks or tridents prest 
Against each broad and circle-fretted breast ; 
And all the fact discerned at last, he knows 
These pigmy-giants form red-ochred rows 
Of rafters and pilasters to support 
A spacious hall ; — some carved in high relief; 
While others standing from the walls aloof 
Piled up in pillars of squat monsters rise 
Perched on each others shoulders to the roof. 
The tribe's great Council-Chamber this should be, 
Their Whare-kura, Hall of sacred Red, 
For worship — justice ; where the most adept, 
The glorious deeds of their ancestral dead, 
And pedigrees that back for centuries crept, 
Safe in their memories by rehearsal kept ; 
Those forms were effigies (he might surmise) 
Each of some famous ancestress or chief; 
But to his fancy now the crowd appeared 
A Gorgon-eyed and grinning demonry 
Whose fiendish rancour his misfortune jeered. 

And bitter were his feelings as he lay 
To dark forebodings, anxious fears a prey : 
What could have caused this outrage? whose the deed? 
Or what its object ? in his utmost need 
Where could he look for succour? how escape 
The doom that threatened him in some dread shape 



canto vin.] Ranolf and Amohia. 145 

He scarce could doubt, although the thought might strike 

His cooler mind, so unprovoked a wrong 

Done by these islanders, was little like 

(As all his past experience would attest) 

Their usual treatment of a peaceful guest. 

And though the tide of his regrets ran strong 

With self-reproaches that a careless hour 

Had placed his life within their savage power, 

Mokoia's Chief he felt could never be 

Privy to such a wrong ! — The - Wailing Sea ' 

Had spurned such crafty craven treachery. 

His natural spirits at the thought revived ; 

And he resolved forthwith to be prepared 

The moment that his unknown foes arrived 

And loosed his bonds, to spring upon them — dash 

Between them — struggle— lose no slightest chance, 

But do and dare whatever might be dared 

Or done, however desperate, wild and rash, 

That might accomplish his deliverance. 

Or if no opening should occur for swift 

Decisive force or dexterous agile shift, 

He still would try what gentle means might do — 

Never despair ! in worst extremes he knew 

So many chances to the brave accrue, 

Hopes to the true heart come so often true ! 

But should all fail, and he be doomed to die, 
Ah, could he help but feel, — no soul so dull 
As not to feel — how deep the misery, 
The bitterness to leave a world, so full 
Of vivid beauty, varied life and joy, 
'Twould scarce the wisest even in ages cloy ! 
Yet even then he had the heart to rest 
In trust the great All-giver would invest — 

10 



146 Ranolf and Amohia, [canto vm. 

Out of the infinite exhaustless store 

Of Life he loves with lavish hand to pour 

Thick as a mist of dew-drops over all 

The inconceivable array of star-worlds, more 

In number than the sands on oceans' shore — 

His soul with new existence ; though to dust 

This apparition of mere clay should fall, 

Its present phantasm. What, ' Is man more just 

Than God ? ' that immemorial chime 

Asked out of Arab wastes in earliest time ; 

And why not ask, Is he more generous, too ? 

Should not God's great beneficence outdo 

What Man could in conception and in will 

Be equal to ? should He not spare 

Another life — a hundred if need were, 

To beings into whom his loving care 

Did such deep longing for the boon instil ? 

Yes, he would trust in this his extreme need 

The Infinite ; who if infinite indeed 

In aught, is infinite in Love as well 

That must our own heart's highest love excel. 

So with firm patience he resolves to wait, 

Whatever be its form, his coining fate. 

in. 
Two hours or more had dragged their weary way 
While cramped with chafing bonds in pain he lay ; 
Those stony eyes had faded from his sight 
When deeper fell the shades of growing night. 
Far, far away his mournful thoughts had flown 
To friends and scenes in happy boyhood known — 
When — hist ! a rustling sound that softly falls 
Upon his ear, his wandering mind recalls ; 



canto viii.] Ranolf and AmoJiia. 147 

He listens — all is silent — then again 

The rustle and slight creak are heard — 'tis plain 

Some cautious hand has thrust aside the door — 

Some noiseless foot steals light along the floor ; 

The form that owned them had a moment hid 

The patch of moonlight where the panel slid 

Away — too briefly for his eye to trace 

Its outline — guess its purpose ; to his side, 

So stealthy, swift and noiseless was its pace, 

The shadowy Shape seemed less to walk than glide. 

Could this some midnight murderer be ? his heart 

Beat quick as over him that Shadow bent — 

Quick as the sweet breath felt upon his face, 

That Phantom's breath, that quickly came and went 

As if in his emotion it took part. 

A soft voice whispered : " Stranger — hist ! no word — 

'Tis I— 'tis Amohia ! "—Then she fell 

To her kind work, and every cutting cord 

Sought out and severed with a sharpened shell. 

Upsprung the youth, to life and joy restored ; 

And rapturous thanks had to the Maid outpoured, 

But that her hand upon his lips was laid, 

But that her lips in briefest whisper prayed 

What her unseen more eloquent looks implored : 

" O for your life no sound ! but follow me — 

Who knows how near your deadliest foe may be ! " 

So through the doorway stealing in the dark, 

She makes the panel fast, and he may mark 

Less-pleased, that silvery blue solemnity 

That mingles with the bowery trees hard by. 

Then in the open, silently they creep, 

They, and their shadows thrown so sharp and deep. 



■■^■^^■i^^^l 



148 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vih. 

Upon a ten-ace half way up a cleft 
Or hollow on the mountain's northern steep, 
'Mid tufts of flax, tall-bladed, bright as glass, 
And ferny tree-clumps, stood the house they left. 
See ! by a hut which they perforce must pass, 
Across their very path, three youths, asleep 
In the warm moon upon the sun-dried grass 
Are lying ! — 'twould be ruin to retreat : — 
The Maiden's heart, he almost hears it beat ! 
Each foot placed firm before the last is raised, 
They step between the knees so nearly grazed : 
And soon are safe beneath the blessed shade 
By trees — themselves as still as shadows, made. 
Then round the island's end, that fear allayed, 
Beneath its woody western slopes they steal, 
Where they may speak secure, and she reveal, 
The cause and author of the base assault 
Her friend had suffered. Kangapo's the fault — 
That priests', and not her father's, she averred : 
For Kangapo's sole aim, he might have heard, 
The one great passion that his bosom stirred, 
The main pursuit in which his life was spent, 
Was, next his own, their tribe's aggrandizement. 
For this, by his advice, almost from birth, 
Herself had been made ' tapu ' to her grief, 
To Taupo's Lord — an old whiteheaded chief, 
Of mighty power, no doubt, high rank and worth : 
And though this marriage of her dread and hate 
That landslip had relieved her from of late, 
Yet much she feared — the Priest already planned 
Some other proud disposal of her hand ; 
So jealously he watched, so little brooked 
The slightest glance of any youth who looked 



ca-nto viii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 149 

With any (here she checked herself) — at least 

Of any one who talked with her awhile : 

And so that day when she observed the Priest 

Eye them so keenly with his crafty smile, 

Although deceived a moment by his guile, 

It roused suspicions, strengthened when she saw 

Again, on their returning to the Isle, 

He noticed Ranolf from the group withdraw 

At sunset ; and himself stole off so soon 

By the same pathway towards the western wood ; 

She followed ; for the thing could bode no good ; 

But by another track ; had seen him meet 

Four men to whom his slightest wish was law, 

Then to a copse of manuka retreat 

Where they could safely, secretly commune ; 

Had crept close-up on tiptoe — overheard 

Their vile atrocious project every word ; 

To seize, bind, bear the Stranger to their great 

Runanga-house ; there leave him bound and wait 

The setting of the Moon, till they could take 

Their captive to the middle of the Lake, 

Where they would throw him overboard, still bound ; 

And tell her Father next day how they found 

The Stranger at his evening meal — with food — 

Aye, food ! beside the monument that stood 

High carved in their most sacred burial-ground 

O'er his most famous ancestor's dead bones : 

And though a bird sung on it all the while — 

Doubtless the spirit of that Chief renowned, 

It still could not prevent the outrage vile : — 

Would not such impious sacrilege astound 

The boldest ? — how aloof the crime they viewed 

With hair on end, tongues to their palates glued 







150 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto viii. 

In speechless horror, motionless as stones : 
But how his Ancestor's insulted Shade 
With vengeance dire the deed profane repaid ; 
For when the Stranger launched his boat again 
There was no ripple on the watery plain ; 
Yet scarce a spear-flight had he left the bank 
Before his boat without a breeze capsized, 
And with it — he with scarce a struggle — sank ; 
For all his powers that Spirit had paralyzed. 
This was the plot concerted then and there ; 
And next she noted where his boat they hid 
To make all points of their narration square ; 
And Miroa was to bring it, as she bid, 
Round to a spot they presently would reach — 
Yes ! there she saw them waiting on the beach ! 
The rest he knew. " But now, O Stranger, haste ! 
Fly to your skiff — O not a moment waste 
In words — already, see ! the Moon is low — 
Away, before your flight those traitors know ! " 

He turned to thank her — would not take her nay ; 
Despite her struggles clasped her to his breast, 
And ere from his embrace she broke away 
Upon her lips a shower of fervent kisses prest 

IV. 

O in all climes and every age a token 
Of one bright link for suffering mortals left 
With the Eternal and Divine unbroken — 
By all Earth's strain and tears untarnished and unreft ! — 
tempting — time-worn — ever-during theme — 
That first fond kiss of Love ! first dazzling gleam 
When two surcharged electric Love-clouds meet — 



canto viil] Ranolf and Amohia. 151 

Flash Paradise into the mutual dream 
Of rapt twin-spirits in a lightning stream, 

And blend in blissful rest their soul-entrancing heat ! — 
Most surely is the Heav'n-glimpse visible there, 
When some young creature, innocent as fair, 
Supreme Civilization's tender heir, 
Such first faint utterance of true love may dare. 
The wondrous, pure, envelopment divine 
Of fearful awe and maiden scruples fine — 
That trembling kiss has broken through it now, 
like the first crocus peeping through the snow; 
Oh timid touching of a terrible joy 
Whose sweet excess would almost ask alloy ! 
First hesitating step within the range 
Of unimagined worlds — enchanted — strange ! — 
Ah ! break off there, young throbbing hearts ! Ah stay, 

Let that ecstatic dawn ne'er darken into day ! 
The quivering brilliance of that hour so tender, 

Love's disc emerging o'er the horizon's rim, 
Does not its molten palpitating splendor 

Leave vulgar Noon and its refulgence dim ? 
Oh might that Morn its freshness ne'er surrender, 
But still in blinding innocency swim ! — 

Vain thought ! — save one such bud of bliss, unblown — 

And laws that rule the Universe were gone ! 

But now, the kisses prest with youthful passion 

On Amohia's lips were not alone 

The first those lips from cne she loved had known, 

They were the first she ever felt at all ! 

A novel mode — a strange too fervent fashion, 

Of salutation or caressing this ! 

What aid, what safeguard to her side to call, 



3 — — V 



152 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto viii. 

•This subtle soft assailant to repel, 

This cunning and insidious foe — a kiss ! 

Was it not thrice too thrilling ? might not well 

This meeting of the lips and breath appear, 

Spirit to spirit — soul to soul to bring 

Too dangerously close — too fondly near ? 

Through joining lips heart seemed to heart to cling; 

And had not breath and spirit but one name — 

In hers, as many a rougher tongue, the same ? — 

But she has torn herself away — " Oh go, 

Ranoro, only go ! haste — haste, or they 

Will track us here ! " She could, — she would not say 

For fear more than those choking words, although 

Such briefest farewell seemed a knell of woe. 

" Farewell, then, dearest ! till we meet once more ! " 

He said, and pushed off quickly from the shore. 



v. 

She gazed unmoving — watched his boat depart, 

With desolation dragging at her heart. 

Just then the ill-omened Moon withdrew behind 

A sable cloud-stripe, sudden, as if dropped — 

Dead Nun ! into a coffin snowy-lined. 

Then swelled her heart with tears her pride had stopped ; 

Weeping she stole the silent trees among, 

Weeping reproved her weeping with a song ; 

For the spontaneous song her sadness moaned, 

Provoked the very weakness it disowned ; 

Racking her bosom with its feigned relief, 

And bitter comfort that redoubled grief. 



canto viii.] Ranolf and AmoJiia. 153 



1. 
" Leave me ! yes, too dear one, leave me ! 
Better now, when least 'twill grieve me ! 
While unrisen, unconsuming, 
Love's red dawn is but illuming 
With faint rays our spirits glooming — 
Oh while we can bear to sever, 
Let us part and part for ever ! 
Part with wishes — vows unspoken, 
Tears unshed and hearts unbroken ! 



" O this feeling ! who shall cure it — 
Teach the Maiden to endure it? — 
Where is he, whitebearded, holy, 
Who shall lead his daughter slowly 
To the waters melancholy ? 
Lead his love-afflicted daughter 
To the still, estranging water ? — 
Where the pool so gloomy-shining, 
Can relieve this love-repining? 

3- 

" She has let it charm too dearly, 
Lull too fondly, touch too nearly, 
That sweet sorrow ; now unwilling, 
In the wave so soothing, chilling, 
Pure, translucent, passion-killing, 
He must lave her — chaunting faintly 
Hymns so piteous, hymns so saintly ! 
Then shall cease this yearning — sighing, 
With the mystic measure dying." 



154 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto vih. 



VI. 

So parted they — and so they strove apart 
Each to repress the risings of the heart ; 
Each to rake out, ungerminant, ungrown, 
The seed in fertile soil too richly sown. 
Yet in her own despite, it seemed, the Maid, 
Was still recalled to something done, or said, 
By or about the Stranger ; to her breast 
Tidings of him, like wild birds to their nest 
Would fly, it seemed as to their natural rest ; 
The slightest news that floated in the air 
By some attraction seemed to settle there ; 
Nor ever seemed there lack of such, or dearth 
Of Fancy's food ; for desert wastes of Earth 
Blush nectared fruits, and the blue void above 
Rains mystic manna but to nourish Love ! 

Nor yet could Amohia, in that pain 

Of stifled passion, though she strove, refrain 

From stealing sometimes to a lonely spot 

Where all before her lay the Lake serene ; 

And she could see the glimmer of the cot 

Her heart divined was his ; and there with mien 

Expectant on the mountain-side unseen 

In thick red-dusted fern would couch, until 

From the dim base-line of the opposite hill 

A white speck disengaged itself and grew 

Into a sail ; or sometimes — for to while 

The time when sport was slack or weather bad, 

With help from native hands, our sailor-lad 

Had fitted up a light canoe, 



canto viii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 155 

With keel, mast, sails, and rudder, too, 
And sculls in European style — 
Sometimes a dark spot she descried 
With flashing twinkle on each side 
That neared and neared till clear in view 
The light skiff, in a mode so new, 
Its single occupant, though backward going 
At once with two long paddles rowing, 
Came skimming the blue calm, and still 
With sharp keel seemed to slit the thin 
Glazed surface of the shining Lake 
That shrank apart in widening wake 
As shrinks beneath the sacrificial knife 
Some forest victim's opening skin 
Discoated of its fur and warm 
From the last pants of its wild woodland life : 

There as she sat alone and long, 
Like one who murmurs low some potent charm, 
In fervid words her love would simmer into song : 



Now should He come, whose coming for a while 
Will make all Nature smile. 

bless my longing sight, 

Dear one ! whose presence bright 

1 hail with more delight, 

Than birds the sunrise thrilling through each rapture-ringing 

cover, 
Than trees the spring-time when they glow with gladder 
green all over. 
The Sun is dim without thee, dearest, 
Joy's self looks sad till thou appearest ! — 



156 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto viii. 

See, he comes ! —0 dull, dull Lake ! 
How canst thou sleep so blue — nor wake — 
Nor rise and wreathe with loving spray my own, my darling 
lover ! 



2. 

O slim white Sail, whose every curve of grace 
So fondly now I trace, 

Each silver shape you try 
Only to charm his eye 
Ah, happy Sail ! and fly, 
Because you know, howe'er you strain, he still is with you 

steering — ■ 
Nay ! but you only feel, slight Sail, the faint wind's fickle 
veering : — 
That envied Wind ! that hampered never 
Might fondly fold my Love for ever 

Wholly in one airy kiss ; 
Yet coldly can renounce such bliss, 
And on your disenchanted way go heartlessly careering ! 



3- 

You vaporj' columns that from hotsprings rise 
(As from my heart such sighs) 

So white against the green, 
And through the day serene, 
Now this, now that way lean, 
And easier postures seem to take for silent contemplation, 
O why not always turn towards him in speechless admiration ! 
But you, dark Clouds ! that grate with thunder 
While on the leaden gloss thereunder, 






canto viii.] Ranolf arid Amohia. 157 

Silvery rings the fishes make, 
Are glistening, fading on the Lake — 
Turn, murky Clouds, O turn from him, your muttered 
indignation ! 



O Sail, O Bark, O happy Wind, O Lake — 
All happy for his sake, 

Why cannot I too rest 
Indifferent, unopprest, 
No aching at the breast — 
Why not behold a beauteous thing with heedless airy plea- 
sure, 
Sleep, sport or speed away like you, untortured by the 
treasure ! — 
But I must moan and writhe and languish, 
And almost envy in this anguish 
The poor fishes, for they die, 
But close to him — beneath his eye : — 
And death with him to life without, O who its bliss could 
measure ! 



158 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto ix. 



CANTO THE NINTH. 



1. 

" Tears, tears I — Oh do not trickle down, 
Oh sleep within your jount unknown ! 
Oh rack my heart but rise not, lest 

Cold eyes discern you, and divine the rest. 

2. 
" Oh for some cavern unespied 
Whereto I may escape and hide ! 
Lest my deep love, in my despite 
Leap up, and break away into the light ! — " 

Such was the burden of the ancient lay 
Sad Amohia murmured as she sat 
Apart from her companions one bright day- 
Making a broidered border for a mat. 
From sloping roof to earthen floor 
Two staffs were fixed the Maid before ; 
Upon a line between them strung 
Fringe-like the flax-warp loosely hung ; 
She worked the woof in thread by thread ; 
Inserting deftly, plaiting, tying 



canto ix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 159 

Into the web as on it sped 

More coloured threads beside her lying : 

Her task without a model plying, 

She wove with interchange ornate 

Of spaces crimson black and yellow — 
Triangular or tesselate, 

Responding each one to its fellow — 
The silky fibres intricate : 

Like some Pompeian pavement's old 

Mosaic, rich with contrast bold 

Of vivid colours, tasteful, true, 

The fair design her fancy drew 

Beneath her nimble fingers grew. 

But ever and anon she stopped, 

A thread was tangled, missed, or dropped : — 

What but some ill-concealed distress 

Could mar such manifest address 

With quite unwonted awkwardness ? 
How could she speed her at her task so trim, 
With thoughts so wandering and with eyes so dim ? 



Then in this fever of despondence, finding 
Her restlessness she could no more restrain, 
Struggling her mien and movements to compose, 
Though scarcely able to refrain 

From rushing — out into the air she goes. 
She steps into the noon-glare hot and blinding — 

But what a gush of gladsome sound 
At once assails her ! — like the winding 
Of tiny watches numberless, all round 
Unceasing streams the loud-vibrating hiss 
Of gay cicadas in their summer bliss. 



160 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto ix. 

O it tormented her — it pained 

Her soul, that emulous shrill monotony 

Of exultation so persistent and sustained. — 

She turns to where the Lake, a mimic sea, 

The pebbled beach with pleasant murmur laves ; 

Hastily she hurries onward now, 

Now rests as wearily — wearily watching how 

Distorted by the heaving crystal, the bright stones 

And tremulous streaks between them clear, 

Still float up, vanish, reappear 

With endless iteration as the little waves 

Keep rolling — rolling in. O then she moans 

In very impotence to bear 

The placid, playful happiness, 

The obstinate calm contentment they express 

As if in mockery of her despair. 

She flings herself upon the grass 

With passionate floods of tears : — Alas. 

But who can weep away a woe ? 
Tears for each flood are readier to reflow ; 

Or if with the worn frame at length 
Exhausted, still revive with its reviving strength. 

in. 
Now the long splendours of the day were past ; 
The gorgeous tints of Eve subsiding fast ; 
The Western hill-tops touched with solemn rays ; 
Their slopes in chestnut-hued and chocolate haze 
Thin-veiled, that melted downwards into gloom 
Blue as the ripened plum's white-misted bloom : 
While the reflected roseate richness steeping 
The East, slunk fading up from lake and shore, 
From mountains next, and last the sky, before 



canto ix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 161 

The purple gray of shadow upward creeping » 
All the flushed sunset sobered into boding awe ; — 
When Miroa, coursing quick from side to side, 
Tossing to any one she saw 
A merry word her aim to hide — 
With careful shew of carelessness — 
Her anxious flutter anxious to repress — 
Her object to seem objectless — 
Came like a quivering flittermouse, 
Came darting through the gathering dusk to Amohia's 
house. 
Bursting with news she longs yet fears to tell, 
The darkling room she first examines well, 
Lest any listener be lurking near ; 
Then whispers in that Maiden's ear, 
How all day 'twixt her father and the priest 
The close and covert converse ne'er had ceased ; 
Till they determined there should be despatched 
An embassy to Napuhi's famous Chief 
With offer to bestow her — Amo's hand 
Upon his son Pomare : how, in brief, 
She for young Karepa had watched, 
Who to the mission was attached, 
Waylaid him on the road and wormed 
His secret from him — as she well knew how ; — 
He teased her with his love so often now ! 
But had not Kangapo with truth affirmed, 
No match more advantageous could be planned 
For her — none give her Sire such right to stand, 

With unconstrained and equal brow 
Proudly amid the proudest of the land ? — 
This was a marriage, — must she not confess 
The priests would all conspire to bless ; 

II 



1 62 Ranolf and Amohia. [cantol ix. 

Aye, raise to frenzy-pitch their rival tune 

Of incantations to the Sun, the Moon, 

The winds, and all the powers of Earth and Air, 

To be propitious to the bridal pair ? 

Shocked — terrified — the Maiden heard 
The tale with obvious truth averred ; 
She flushed and paled; her blood suspended, 
All life seemed fading from her brain ; 
Then the hot current spirit-stirred, 
Back from her strong heart rushed again, 
And high she rose above her pain. 
Her doubts, her hesitation ended, 
This — this— she felt had sealed her doom : 
O dread ! to-morrow well she knew 
Once more she might be made taboo : 
And what could break that hideous chain ! 
The threatened fate she could evade 
Only by flight — swift — secret — undelayed ! 
All the sheet-lightning that had played 
In pointless passion round her soul so long, 

Condensed by this compulsion strong, 
Shot into arrowy purpose, clear against its gloom. 



As through the land when some dread Earthquake thrill 
Shaking the hidden bases of the hills ; 
Their grating adamantine depths, beneath 
The ponderous, unimaginable strain and stress, 
Groan shuddering as in pangs of worldwide death ; 
While their long summits stretched against the sky 
Rough-edged with trackless forests, to the eye 
A double outline take (as when you press 
The eyeball) ; and the beaten roads below 
In yellow undulations roll and flow ; 



canto ix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 163 

And in broad swamps the serried flax-blades lithe, 

Convulsed and tortured, rattling, toss and writhe, 

As through them sweeps the swift tremendous throe : 

Beasts howling run, or trembling, stand and stare, 

And birds, as the huge tree-tops swing and rock, 

Plunge scared into the more reliable air : — 

All Nature wrung with spasm, affrighted reels 

Aghast, as if the heavy chariot-wheels 

Of God in very truth were thundering by 

In too intolerable majesty: — 

Then he who for the first time feels the shock, 

Unconscious of its source, unguessing whence 

Comes flying o'er him, with oppressive sense 

Of irresistible Omnipotence, 

That boundless, strange, o'erwhelming influence, 

At once remote and in his inmost heart — 

Is troubled most, that, with his staggering start 

All the convictions from his birth upgrown, 

And customary confidence, o'erthrown, 

In Earth's eternal steadfastness, are gone : 

Even such a trouble smote in that wild hour 

Our Maiden — such revulsion shook her soul, 

As o'er her swept that sense of doom 

And dire compulsion spurning her control ! 

All feelings that had been her life-long stay 

Seemed from their deep foundations wrenched away ; 

No more could her convulsed, afflicted breast, 

On childhood's loves or home-affections rest ; 

Her Being all upheaving seemed to be 

Cast loose and drifting towards an unknown Sea ; 

Her heart's young world, uptorn — receding fast — 

Far rolled the echoes of the fading Past ; 

She stood alone — herself her sole support at last. 



164 Ranolf mid Amohia. [canto ix. 



IV. 

Tis Night ; — the Maiden steals along the shore ; 
How lone the aspect at that hour it wore ! 
How shelterless from all dread things — so deemed 
Her superstition — wherewith Darkness teemed ! 
All the familiar friendliness of Day, 
And all its life and stir, subsided — sunk — 
Within that circling fence shut up and shrunk, 
Where, snake-like coiled, the sleeping Village lay ! 
Miles distant now its very precincts seemed. 
She speeds to where her people use 
To leave afloat their red canoes ; 
A new misfortune ! all and each 
Are high and dry upon the beach ; 
The lightest well she knew would prove 
Too heavy for her strength to move. 
Was she distrusted? her design 
Betrayed ? she cares not to divine : 
Her spirit not a moment falters ; 
Not once her cheek its colour alters : 
As he who desperate only tries 
To strike one stroke before he dies, 
And hardly wincing, never heeds 
Some fresh deep wound as fast he bleeds — 
So this last stroke the Maid receives ; 
So with impatient patience shuts, 
Though to her heart it keenly cuts, 
Her heart against it ; if she grieves, 
That grief can silently repress 
With one sad smile of bitterness, 
(The choking at her throat no less) 



canto ix.] Ranolf mid Amohia. 165 

While to her aim she calmly cleaves. 
Shall this defeat her fixed intent ? 
The Lake her purposed flight prevent ? 
Her favourite haunt, almost from birth 
In many an hour of fearless mirth, 
Her life beside it had been spent, 
'Twas like her natural element ! 
With throbbing breast, with lips comprest, 
She flings her quick and lighted glance 
Determined o'er its dark expanse : 
That further shore was distant — dim — 
But better death than turning back ! 
No way but one ! yes, she will swim — 
Her daring path unaided track 
Across that plain so still and black ! — 
Did not her own great Ancestress 
Once swim that Lake in like distress ? 
Might she not dare and do the same ? 
Did she not feel as true a flame ? — 
She keeps before her mind, despite 
The spirit-haunted gloom of night, 
That hid its waters shadowy-bright — 
Its daylight image, tempting, dear, 
Light blue and beautiful and clear ! — 
She tries in vain to recognize 
The rolling mountain-slope, where lies 
The hut that holds her love — her life ; 
But as with daylight details rife 
She bids the cherished picture rise, 
She feels the spell of kindly eyes ; 
One kindly voice inviting cries ; 
One living presence sweeps from view 
The distance and the darkness too; 



1 66 Ranolf and Atnohia. [canto ix. 

Before its thrilling influence driven, 
All scruples to the winds are 'given ! 
What to her is far or near ? 
What has she to do with fear ! — 
Her light dress lightly flung aside — 
See ! she has dashed into the waters wide ! 

Delicious to her throbbing heart — 

Delicious to her fevered brain 
Was that cool loving water ! Eagerly 

She dipped her head, again — again — 
As if it could appease the inward smart, 

Could charm away the choking pain. 
Then fully conscious first she seemed to be 

How she had launched upon her lonely way ; 
As from a dream first perfectly awoke 

To all the dangers of her bold essay. 
So singling out and noting well 
A star, that near the mountain's verge 

Obscure and vague, hung just above 
The spot, as even in darkness she could tell 

Whence she had seen his boat emerge 
So oft, as on her hill-top she would bask 

On that forlorn look-out of Love, — 

She fixed upon its twinkling spark 

Her course to guide, her goal to mark ; 
Then with a calmer pulse and steadier stroke, 
Gave herself up to her adventurous task. 



canto x.] Ranolf and Amohia. 167 



CANTO THE TENTH. 



1. 

Swim, Amohia, swim ! — with strong swift grace she swims ; 
Lightly in silence cleaves the pathway smooth. 
The water's gurgle from her waving limbs, 
Only its ripple from her flexile limbs — 

Seems less to break than gently soothe 
The hush of solemn Silence as she swiftly swims. 

And now the cooling lymph more calmly breasting, 
She comes upon some wild-fowl resting : 
And as soft plashing she intrudes 
Into their glassy open home so wide, 
And feels the solemn still impress 
Of sweetly-sheltering loneliness — 
" Safe in their gleaming solitudes " 
She sighs, " each bird with what it loves allied ! 
How well doth for his trusting broods 
The Spirit of the Lake provide !" 
With startled glance their heads they raise, 
One movement quick from side to side, 
Then far into the dimness sail 
With shrill wild cry and dripping trail. 



1 68 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto x, 

As each into the still air dashes, 

Its level-flapping wing-tips make 

Upon the else unruffled Lake 

A double row of silver splashes 

Spurting a moment in its wake. 

She smiles : " Ah, had I wings like you, 

Could be so soon love-nestled too ! 

Dread Spirit ! help me too as well, 

Whom no irreverent thoughts compel 

Unwillingly to break the spell 

Of Silence lone wherein you dwell ! " 

ii. 

Lightly along her liquid path she presses; 
Nor yet the toil her buoyant frame distresses. 
Anon, as patiently she sped, 
There came as of itself into her head 
An old and simple lay, 
She oft had sung in many a happier day, 
About a maid her home for love forsaking ; 
And the recurring rhythm making 

The effort of volition less, 
And so preventing weariness, — 
Though scarce a meaning to its phrases linking — 
She kept into her spirit drinking 
The metre's chime — a kind of rest from thinking ; 
And steadily aside the crystal waters flinging, 
Kept murmuring the old rhyme in time — she had no breath 
for singing : — 

i. 

" The freshet is flowing, 
But growing quite clear; 






canto x.] Ranolf and Amohia. 169 

The full river flashes 

And gurgles and dashes 

With tinklings and plashes 

How pleasant to hear ! 

The tiny bright billows 

That lately were whirling 

So turbid and dun, 

Are playfully curling, 
And merrily glance as they dance in the Sun ! — 

To the current confiding 

My little canoe, 

See ! joyously gliding 

My course I pursue. 

Look ! carelessly twirling 

The paddle I sit, 

The river deciding 

Which way we shall flit : 

I sit all alone, 

No fear have I, none ! 
For I know to what quarter its waters will run ! 



2. 

And see how, while speeding, 
A Maiden unheeding, 
Wherever those curling 
Crisp billows are leading — 
Never raising a mast or 
The light sail unfurling, 
But leaving my boat free to float as it will ; 
The rich breeze comes after 
To drive her the faster — 
The faster to waft her 



170 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto 

To where out of sight 
Stands a cottage so bright ; 
(Ah well do I know it, 
Rush-wall and red rafter 
And carvings so gay !) 
Which oft far away 
I have watched half the day, 
When the sunbeam would show it 
One spot of red light 
Beneath the deep-glooming, far-looming blue hill. 

3- 

No obstacles stay me, 

No dangers delay me ! 

The streams, — where the river 

In summer dividing 

In silvery threads, 

Slips hurriedly gliding 

O'er glittering beds 
Of shingle, — all mingled, you nowhere can see ! 

All the rapids wherever 

The water ran creaming, 

And — flashing and gleaming 

From humps and from shoulders 

Of obstinate boulders, — 

Snow-tassels ofTstreaming 

Would flutter and quiver — 
They have vanished — replenished to let me go free ! 

And the broad yellow spaces 

Where lost were all traces 

Of the creaming, the flashing, 

The streaming, the dashing, 

The stir and the strife ; 



canto x.] Ranolf and Amohia. 171 

Where you heard not a murmur, 
No chatter or churme or 
Low musical plaint ; 
Where the gravel-beds wholly 
Concealing it, slowly 
The river went oozing 
Beneath, and gave life 
To a few dainty bosses 
Of pallid gray mosses, 
Such fragrance diffusing 
Delicious and faint — 
They are gone — they have vanished — all banished for me ! 

4- 
The ranks of green rushes 
With their brown knobs of down, 
Where the stream's overflow 
Creeps dimpling and slow — 
How gentle their stirring 
As softly conferring 
They murmur so low ! 
In a moment 'tis done ; 
They are still every one ! 
As they stand in a row 
And watch me, I know 
Why it is they are so — 
I know each green lisper 
Fears even a whisper 
May show where I go, who the rover must be ! 
And the louder flax-bushes 
With their crowding and crossing 
Black stems, darkly studded 
With blossoms red-blooded — 



172 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto x. 

Their long blades are tossing 

As the breeze comes up quicker 

(So wantonly spilling 

The honeysweet liquor 

Their ruddy-cups filling) : 

Hark ! pattering, playing, 

They rustle in glee ; 

And I fancy them saying : 
< O fondly, O fleetly 

She flies — never heed her, 

For Love is her leader ; 

And fairly and featly 

He steers, who but he ! 
Then mind her not — hinder not — let her go free ! ' — 

And brighter and higher, 

Like flames of pale fire, 

The great plumes far and wide 

Of the sword-grass aspire ; 

In their grace and their pride 

They are all on my side ! 

See ! feather to feather 

How bending together 

They seem to try whether 

My flight they may hide ; 

' We know where she hies to — 

We know what she flies to — 
Droop thickly — wave quickly — that no one may see ! ' 

5- 

Then, Father, why chide her, 
Your darling, your pride, or 
Lament at her going 
Whatever betide her ! 



o x.j Ranolf and Amohia. 173 

For though your eyes glisten, 

O how can she listen — 
To such a fond lover the rover has flown ! 

Unavailing the wailing, 

And idle to chide her, 

When breezes freshblowing, 

When waters quickflowing, 

All fair things upgrowing 

And waving beside her, 
Will but guide and confide her to one heart alone ! " 

Thus, not without a sense forlorn and dreary 
How doubtful her own flight and fate 
Beside that maiden's, speeding to her mate 
With answered love and confidence elate, 

Poor Amohia swims till she is weary. 



in. 
A welcome rest ! Above the surface, see, 
Projects the stump of a long-sunken tree : 
Last remnant of a forest-giant 
That once with outflung arms defiant, 
With all his green fraternity 
Stood shouldering out the dappled sky 
On this same spot, and shed around 
Noon-twilights, where in leafy shade 
The golden tremors sparely played ; 
Or in the echoing hush profound 
At intervals the soft quick beats 
Of the wild-pigeon's winnowing wing, 
Subsiding whisper-like, betrayed 
Where high up in his green retreats, 



174 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto x. 

He flitted leisurely at feed. — 

The mighty forest like a weed 

Has withered — vanished like a dream ! 

The sky is bare, and everywhere 

Above you spreads the empty air, 

Around the lonely waters gleam : 

Where insects burrowed, hummed and swarmed 

The wildfowl dips ; and, unalarmed, 

In silvery shoals the minnows stream, 

Their thousands moving with one will ; 

Or, lying motionless and still 

On tiny fins self-balancing, 

Like spreading arrows shoot away 

If any swimming Maiden may 

Perchance their crystal-folded slumbers fray. 

Such wondrous change can compassed be 

By Ru, the Earthquake-God's decree, 

Who lifts and lowers the groaning land 

As in the hollow of his hand. 

To this old timeworn stump unsought 

Her slightly devious course had brought 

The unconscious Maid, direct and true, 

So that perforce it was descried. 

She found a footing on its side, 

And as a long deep breath she drew, 

And firm her panting bosom prest 

The filmy weeds that o'er it grew 

Light green, and dangling rose and fell, 

Listless in the lapping swell 

Her swimming left — her arms she threw 

Around it, grateful for the timely rest. 

Spontaneous gratefulness — to whom and why ? 



canto x.] Ranolf and Amohia. 175 

Wondrous, with no one to be grateful to, 
That thus the natural heart should ever fly, 
Thus gravitate, as 'twere, if left alone, 
To something all unseen, unknown : 
That its perennial lights, intense or dwindling, 
To bold clear Love and Adoration kindling, 
Or dimly down to Fetish fear declining, 
Keep pointing to a polestar — nowhere shining ! 
You pity her — untaught and rude 
To know how blind such gratitude ; 
Who threw away vain thanks because 
Her own proceedings and intent 
Just then fell out coincident 
With the fixed working of cast-iron laws ; 
And so o'erlooked in ignorance 
That principle, to minds profound 
So much more rational and sound, 
Her real benefactor — Chance ! 

IV. 

But right the sentiment or wrong, 

It was not one to hold her long. 

To her deserted Father flew 
Her thoughts — his anguish when her clothes they found : 
What if his Child, his grey hair's pride were drowned ! 
Her loss how would he brood upon and rue ; 

With dim eyes, in the sleepy old canoe, 

With pole and hoopnet as he used to do, 

Fishing perhaps the long day through — 

Unconscious half, in his distress 

And heedless of his ill-success. 
To think of his despair her bosom bled — 
Yet how could they upbraid her that she fled ? 



176 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto x. 

Could they, if all were known, bid her contend 
Against a fate she could not help nor mend ? 
Was Love to be resisted ? Could they blame her 
If that insidious Power o'ercame her ? 
Because they could not see nor feel 
The spell whose tyrannous control 
Absorbed, entranced her mind — her soul, 
Should they expect she could reject 
Its might, her heart against it steel ? 
As well — (for as her feelings rose, 

The oriental fancy, bred 
And born with her, and through all joys and woes 
With metaphor and song for ever fed, 
At once in some remembered chaunt 
Springing so ready to her want, 
Again to Natures' ways and shows 
For vindication and example sped) 
As well upbraid the feathery clouds of Morning, 
Because the unrisen Sun is out of sight, 
For not in cold impassive pallor scorning 
The first faint touches of his cheering light ; 

As well expect their snowy fleeces, 
As upward from his seahid cave he rushes, 
Not to be heart-struck into burning blushes ; 

Or as he nigher comes and nigher 
And the soft-flowing splendour still increases, 

Though all his disc be hidden yet, 

As well expect the basking brood 

No further to drink-in the blissful flood, 

But fling it eddying back, nor let 
The rosy blushes rapture-kindle into golden fire. 
"Ah no!" she thought, while her full bosom heaves 
A sigh — " with me no more than these — Ah no, 



canto x.j Ranolf and Amohia. 177 

It cannot be — it never can be so ! 
Him I was born, compelled to love — I know ; 
Him I shall love — him ever — till the day 
When with thick coronals of freshest leaves 
The maids and matrons to my funeral go ! " — 
In fresh resolve the passing pang she smothers, 
And dashes, as it starts, the tear away : 
Then with a half impatience and mute pain 
She turns into the yielding Lake again — 
Again the Lake's mild breast receives her like a Mother's. 



12 



178 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xi. 



CANTO THE ELEVENTH. 



Swim, i\mohia, swim ! — with patient toil she swims, 
In solemn silence, night, and loneliness. 
Steady the star-reflexions, every flake 
Like dropping arrows, golden, motionless, 
Hang on the shadowy polish of the Lake ; 
Only the waving of her lithe young limbs 
Sets them a little trembling, or bedims 
And quenches them, as through their glittering trails she 
swims. 



Once more the Maiden's vigour flags ; 
Wearily now her languid frame she drags ; 
So on her back to rest her arms she turns, 
And with her feet alone the water slowly spurns. 



But when at once right o'er her swung 
The whole enormous lighted dome of Heaven, 
What feelings in her bosom sprung ? — 



canto xi.] Ranolf and AmoJiia. 179 



Not fraught indeed for her the glorious vision 
With all the myriad miracles 'tis given 
Our tutored sight to marvel at therein — 
Thickstarred Immensities — to which all fields Elysian, 
Softswarded glooms of Paradise 
Fire-streaked with glancing lovelit eyes — 
Or that pure Empyrean where the bards divine — 
Of Albion or the Florentine, 
In world-entrancing everliving dreams, 
Saw jacinth-downs and topaz-spurting streams 
And uplands opaline ; 
Champaigns of sheeted pearl with rosy-green 
Reflections shot, and mildest rainbow-sheen, 
Where snowdrifts of blest Angels spread and swarm 
And scatter, on the rolling grand Hosanna-storm 

Uplifted — floated — borne away ! 
Or rounded to a snowy world-wide rose 
With golden heart where God's own brilliance glows ;- 
All seem but tinselled stagework — transient — mean — 
Poor craft of some mere mortal mechanician ! 
— Nor could her fancy science-guided stray — 
From those bold fires that here and there 
Like vanward sentinels low hovering hung, 
Rejoicing in some kingly trust, — 
Through an immeasurable array 
Of evervarying mingling lights 
Pausing in multitudinous troops 
On still retiring higher heights 
As on some vast celestial palace-stair ; 
Or poured forth infinite in. scattering groups 
And endlessly-recurring shoal on shoal ; 



180 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xi. 

With luminous depths on all sides leading 
To deeper depths that evermore receding 
And evermore reopening lose 
Themselves in labyrinthine avenues 
Of glory unspeakable ! a maze 
Of vistas intricate that everywhere 

Away and upward roll 
Into a dimness splendid with a dust 
Of Suns — a gleaming haze, 
A visible shining cloud, 
Of specks invisible — all worlds — and all avowed 
Only a handbreadth of the outstanding Whole ! 
O not for her the eternal flood 
Of worlds in bloom and worlds in bud ; 
The lightning-speeded cataract of Creation 
Boundless and bounding on for ever ; 
Chaotic mass or cosmic — brood on brood 

Evolving, intermitting never, 
To dash and daze the strongest- winged imagination : — 
Full many a sun-thronged Universe that dwindles 
To a tiny film of light, 
So far off in the Infinite ! 
Full many a flying Ocean of bright Mist that kindles 
At its deep core eddy-curled 
And whirls and thickens to a world, 
Or at its vasty margin thinning 
Drops lagging vapour-belts and luminous rings 
That shrink apart, like breaking strings 
Of jewels, into moons and satellites, 
Fresh-starting on their separate flights, 

And on new centres spinning ; 
— The trailing spawn of Systems vapour-tangled ; 
And. seeded masses of stargrain like roes 



canto xl] Ranolf and Amohia. 181 

Of fishes, so the congregated clusters close — 

Aye, golden ovaries of great globes in myriads — all 

By distance inconceivable comprest 

Into the semblance of a swarming ball 

Of pin's-head spiders in their whitewebbed nest : — 

— The swallow-swoop of Comets as they flee 

In the wild race of revelry ; 
Each like some mad enamoured Bayadere 
That darts from out the throng to where 
Sits in full-diamonded pride 
Her mighty Rajah awful eyed, 
As if, athirst for his caresses, 
To fling herself upon his blazing breast ; 
But catching as she comes an ear 
The kingly-chilling glitter of his glance, 
Swerves off abashed in full career 
Again into the reeling dance ! 
So, down upon their Sun-God dashing 
With sudden shift these couriers swift 
Still scour away into Infinitude — off-flashing 
With all their hundred million leagues of luminous tresses 
Into the fathomless abysses 
To make amid the astonished spheres 
Their sportive circuit of a thousand years ! 
Or say, 'twere but the wake they trace 
Lashing to foam-light as they race, 
Quiescent force asleep in space — 
Still — still they spurn all resting-place ! — 
— Then all the sensitive Planets as they float, 

In their enormous solitudes 
Troubled mysteriously — the changeful moods 
Reflecting of their kindred most remote ; 
So delicately alive to and returning 



1 82 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xi. 

Each faint and far off sister's finest yearning ; 

In their elastic orbits wheeling 

Eternal rounds of sympathetic feeling. — 

Not these — not all the vast sublimities that lurk 
Within the visible sphere — the o'erpowering whole 
Disclosed by the optic tube that dares to thrust 
The flaming portals wide asunder 
And shew the great Creator at his secret work 
So silent — boundless — beautiful, it strikes the Soul 
Into hushed tears of awe and ecstasy and wonder ! 
Yet fires it with impatient thirst to be 
Knit somehow nearer, 
Jn vision clearer, 
Communion dearer 
With the impenetrable mute Mystery 
That flings such glories freely all around us 
Not for the sake of such a mite as Man ; 
Yet as he made them ours, — 
Gave us such powers 
So wide a portion of his works to scan 
And apprehend — not comprehend — a plan — 
Ah ! not at least to baffle and confound us ! — 
For shut out from the eyes of wiser Sense 
That palpable Omnipotence, 
And in the flashing face of it descend 
To doughtiness of reasoning — where will end 
Your task — to what conviction tend ? 
Will not the oneness of the Law all through 
And fitness of our intellect thereto 
Pronounce in spite of metaphysic brawl 
One Will — one conscious Mind — the cause of all? 
Or call it Force, self-causing — if you will — 



canto xl J Ranolf and Amohia. 183 

Tis Force that infinitely varying, still 

Through myriad myriad evolutions ranges ; 

Into a million simultaneous streams divides ; 

At once through all without confusion glides ; 

And keeps their mystic momentary changes 

Springing in mutual fitness forth — agreeing 

As each the fresh results of all foreseeing : — 

What powers has Mind such Force does not possess — 

What knowledge proper to self-consciousness ? — 

But not for slow deductions — wrong or right — 

Those marvels gleam transcendant — but to flood 

The Soul with inspiration — but to smite 

Into the heart a rapture bright 
Of reverence and devotion and delight, 

And leave for its ecstatic mood 

No outlet, no expression, no relief, 
But in one grand conviction in whose blaze 
Poor Logic withers with her creeping ways, 

And stands confest an attribute 

Lower and fitter for the brute, 

For things that creep and things that plod — 
But in one blinding Truth and chief 
Of truths — unprovable — above all proof — the feeling, God ! 



in. 

Well — though there rose not to the Maiden's mind, 
Such visions with such thoughts entwined, 

She could not fail 
Awestruck to mark how vast a bed 
Of brilliants was above her spread, 
As 'twere the sediment and golden grail 

By some great Sea of upper Light deposited : 



184 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xl 

Nor all the finer showers of gems that far away 
Fused into fainter light-wreaths lay 
Marbling the mournful depths of solemn blue : 
Nor how across it all meandering wide 
Went a pale, luminous smoke that swarmed 
With sparks, as from the unseen fires it rose 
Of some vast spectral beings that performed 
Their unimaginable rites outside : 
She wondered too 
At those mysterious stains of darkest hue, 
Unfathomable shafts of blindest vacancy 

Like scathing tracks of Demon dread 
Before whose flight the myriad brilliances 
Shrank blighted — marred — as shrink and close 
Rock-purpling tribes of sea-anemones 
Beneath the careless tread 
Of one who by the side of Ocean goes. 

But shunning all that glorious Company 
There, furtively and swift, a Meteorite, see ! 

Slides into light a moment, and is gone ! 
Of all unnoted, noting none ; 

In stealthy chase (she thought) or bent 
On secret mission — but apart, alone — 
And utterly absorbed in his unknown intent. 

All was so solemn, vast, etherial, strange — 

Complete within its wondrous self— removed 

So far from our dark world of chance and change, 

From all she hoped, or feared, or loved, 

The longer on the scene she dwelt, 

More helpless still the maiden felt, 

More feeble, specklike, in the gleaming dumb Immensity. 



canto xi. J Rariolf and Amohia. 185 



What, though she had been taught to trace 
Amid the million throbbing hearts of fire, 
Ancestral spirits of her race 
Whose fame had won them that high place,— 
Those steady stars, unwinking, bold, 
That well might souls of heroes be, 
From them, so proud, and calm, and cold 

How could she look for sympathy ? 
But where were they, so gentle, clear, 
Sweet innocent spirits in timid lustres shrined, 
Whom oft at twilight she would mark 
Come trembling through the melting dark, 
As then, then only confident enough 
(Like fawns upon the point to turn and fly) 
With fluttering heart to hesitate so nigh ? — 
They must be, sure, of tenderer stuff, — 
Have souls that pity could inspire ! 
Ah, idle seemed the fond desire 
Amid the thronging hosts to find 
One kindred heart from whom a Maid 
Might look for love or hope for any aid ! 
For if her glance for many moments rested 
On any single group of all that sprinkled 
The skies, the fancy then her brain infested, 
They were tall radiant Figures downward peering 
From shining strongholds, high and free 
And safe above her, while behind them leering 
Still more and more kept crowding in to see, 
With eyes that with malicious pleasure twinkled 
At her poor puny efforts. And her guide, 
Her pilot star could be no more descried ; 
So by the glorious vision more deprest 



1 86 Ranolf and AmoJiia. [canto xi. 

Than strengthened by the partial rest, 
She turns again, 
And plies her weary shoulders with increasing pain. 

Poor outworn Amohia ! — world-abandoned Maid, 
Thy brave strong heart is now thine only aid ! 

" Ah ! if at last I sink—" 
It blanched her cheek to think 
The thought — her heart a moment ceased to beat — 
" Oh might I then on that dear shore be thrown 
And by Ranoro found alone ! 
And if he loved me with a love like mine 
Ah, would not even then my bosom own 
Some feeble flutter of a joy divine 
When frantic he would clasp, the cold, cold form 
With vain caresses warm — 
No love returned, no answering heat ; 
Then curse the intolerable light — nor stay — 
But dashing out his life in some quick way 
While the loathed Universe whirled off his brain, 
With fainting fervour strain 
Our dead and dying hearts together — never to part again ! 



But if, as once I think you said, — 
Laughing at what I told you of the gloom 
And sordid horror of our Reinga dread — 
The white man hopes a better doom 
For spirits of the dead, 
Oh would not mine low hovering for a while, 
Linger for yours, Ranoro ! Then, O bliss ! to speed 
Together to that happier land — 



canto* xi.] Ranolf and Amohia. J 87 

For they would rush together freed, 
And wondering with a pensive happy smile 
At all the maddening care and heed 
That vexed the senseless forms entwined upon the strand. 



Nay, live, Ranoro ! live — and sometimes give 
A thought to your poor — lost — " The bitter tear 
Was checked before it reached her eyes ; 
And that throat-agony forbid to rise : 

With resolute will 
She bids the unnerving visions disappear ; 

And the brave Maiden tries 
To rally her spent force with thoughts of meeting, 
With the deep rapture of Ranoro's greeting. 
Alas, though feebly struggling still 

With patient anguish on her brow, 
Poor gallant Amohia is exhausted now. 



IV. 

But see ! upon the hillside glows, 
Unmoving, bright, a sudden light ! 
Oh joyous sight, 'tis his, she knows ! 
New hope, new life, new strength she gains ; 
It feeds her brain with will — with warmth her veins 
And now she is aware how on the right 
A mountain spur, as if in friendly guise 

Has stolen forward to surprise 
And catch — say rather, to embrace her ! 
How high the hills that darkly face her 
Have grown ! the darkly-branching trees 
Are mingling with the stars, she sees ; 



1 88 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xi 

A kind of gentle stir is in the air — 
Faint sounds of life, though life at rest, are there. 
Two loud harsh notes assail her ear — 
The night-hawk's ! harsh but yet so near ! 
She blest them ! to her present plight 
Seemed never song-bird's notes so dear, 
So sweet, as that melodious screech 
Startling the darkness with delight. 
With desperate strokes she presses forward fast — 
She feels that they must be her last. 
With downthrust foot she strives to reach — 
O joy ! O bliss — she feels for and has found, 
Can touch that deep salvation — the firm ground ! 

One stroke — one other yet — a moment more 
She staggers, falls — upon the pumice-whitened shore. 

v. 

Cold, shivering, stiff in every limb : 
With pulse scarce beating, eyes that droop and swim ; 
With deep-drawn pants and gasping sighs 
Long prostrate on the ground she lies ; 
But gleaming in the Moon's new-risen beam 
She sees not far a little puff of steam ; 
She struggles towards it slowly — half-alive — 
That lucky spring will soon her languid frame revive ! 

It was a sparry basin, smoothly tipped and fringed 

With snowy stalactite, just tinged 
With a faint delicate flush 
Like that white rose, the maiden-blush. 

The water seemed a liquid piece of heaven — so blue— 
Of midmost heaven a lonely piece 

Laid bare by a slight breach in the summer-fleece ; 



canto xl] Ranolf and Amohia. 189 

And look what sparkling crowds of bubbles through 

Diaphonous azure, fast and ever 

Escaping in the fountain's fever 
Are trembling up with timorous haste to greet 
And deck with diamond grail the beauteous guest, 
As down she sinks into her lucid seat 
And in transparent sapphire makes her warm and liquid nest. 






190 Ranolf and Amoliia. [canto xii. 



CANTO THE TWELFTH. 



That evening, with a feeling half forlorn, 

With him unusual, Ranolf musing sate, 

And listened listless to his followers' chat. 

It was the hour for sleep ; but though outworn 

With hunting, now with reckless zest pursued 

In his unsatisfied and restless mood, 

Little for slumber felt the youth disposed. 

Outside their hut beneath the stars reclined, 

Or pacing to and fro, he let the Night — 

Its soft black-brooding Spirit-wings outspread, 

Its myriad-winking eyes of mystic light 

Exulting in their secret undisclosed — 

Sink down into and soothe his working mind : 

" It was so still and breathless," as he said, 

"You almost heard the stars throb." One by one 

His comrades to their mats retired to rest ; 

Till Tareha was with Ranolf left alone, 

Who at a legend all his tribe outshone : — 

Of many, this was one he told his guest : 

1. 

Mutara's fame filled all the land ; what foeman but would 

fear 
The crashing of his battle-brand — the whirlwind of his spear ! 



canto xil] Ranolf and Amoliia. 191 

One dread opprest his haughty breast, lest he should die at 

last, 
And leave a name some Warrior's fame among the dead 

surpassed. 

2. 
Far as the Reinga's* self erelong — down to those very dead, 
Like flames in fern when winds are strong, his widening 

glory spread ; 
His sire Patito's heart grew dark; beneath his gloomy frown 
His eyes' grim ire flashed lurid fire, to hear of such renown. 

3- 

One eve Mutara chafing strode along the Ocean shore, 

While flew the Tempest all abroad — for Peace his heart- 
strings tore : 

Blood-tinged with Sunset struggling through black Storm- 
clouds branching free, 

Came roaring in with splashing din, the boiling hissing Sea ! 

4- 
Wind-swept, a waft of sea-birds white went scattering up the 

sky, 
As storm-opprest to rocky rest they staggering strove to fly ; 
For scouring wide, the hollow winds rushed frantic in despair, 
And spray-wreaths grand and wreaths of sand tossed their 

wild arms in air. 

5- 

With firmer foot and dinted heel Mutara onward went, 
And clenched his teeth with rage to feel so baffled and 
besprent. 

* Reinga — place of departed Spirits. 



192 Ranolf mid Amohia. [canto xii. 

" Oh, could you take," he muttered deep, " here, now, a 

human form, 
Soon would we see who'd Master be, O blustering, bullying 

Storm ! " 

6. 

Scarce was the reckless challenge given, before with tenfold 

wrath 
The furious frenzied gusts were driven across his difficult 

path : 
As round him thick fly sands and spray, a Figure looming 

large 
Seems in the drift approaching swift the Challenger to charge. 

7- 
Two lightning gleams shoot through the gloom — O horror ! 

he descries 
Fierce-flashing through the whirling clouds, his Father's 

spectral eyes ! 
The frantic winds with hollow scream seem sounding in his 

ear, 
" There, boaster, there ! see if you dare abide your Father's 

spear ! " 

8. 

Aghast, amazed— yet still he raised his lance and forward 

leapt ; 
But o'er him black the maddening rack of the whole Tempest 

swept ; 
And down the eddying wind hoarse shrieks of laughter rolled 

in scorn, 
As he was left of sense bereft, stretched on the sands forlorn. 



canto xii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 193 



9- 

They found — revived him — sung his praise — the One who 

with the Dead 
Alone had dared to fight unscared ; and all our Elders said 
That had Mutara won the day on that tempestuous shore, 
The Reinga's power and Death's dark hour had conquer'd 

Man no more. — 

" Death conquer Man no more ! — but how succeed 
In conquering him /" said Ranolf; "Strike him low 
But once, that were the feat of feats indeed ! 
But had you never hero could o'erthrow 
That bugbear — beat that universal Foe ? " 

" Well, Maui* tried it, long enough ago : — 

11. 

" You have heard, have you not ? of great Maui ? how he 
Lay at first on the flat rocky reefs of the sea, 
In that land of our fathers, Hawaiki the blest — 
[ 'Mid the vast ropes of weed that in endless unrest 
Crawl, welter and toss on that surf-snowy plain 
Serpentining in long undulations of pain, 
And glistening black, as they writhe in the tide ; 
Or if haply their monstrous contortions subside, 
Still uneasily stir in their comfortless bed ; — 
They are tresses, they say, that Taranga outspread 
Round the Infant she left on the sea-shore and fled : — 
But those tangles, they dandled in sunshine and storm, 
And nurtured and kneaded the Babe into form. 
Then scathless to keep him from sea-bird and worm, 

* Pronounced " Mowee" 

13 



194 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xn. 

The jelly-fish wrapt him all fresh from the brine 

In their discs of soft crystal, that streaked with such fine 

Radiations of scarlet transparently shine. 

So he grew up a Giant ; and gave his great days 

To glorious deeds and the winning of praise. 

The red seeds of Fire he was first to discover ; 

And dared in his longing for light to lean over 

The mountainous walls of the uttermost West, 

The Sun in his headlong career to arrest : 

There in spite of his fast-flashing struggles, he noosed 

The far-darting limbs of that Lustre ; reduced 

The perilous speed of his ruinous race 

To a steady, majestic and orderly pace ; 

And compelled him in warmth and mild splendor to steep 

The Isles Maui's hook had first fished from the Deep. 

But how Small was the worth of his glory and power, 

While the monster, black Death, could all Being devour ; 

And Man who elsewhere could such victories gain, 

Of his villanous maw must the victim remain ! — 

No, if He were unconquered, all conquests were vain. 

Now Maui had seen how the Sun every night 
Sunk wearied and worn from his sky-cresting height ; 
While a legion of Clouds oft exultingly stood, 
Like a crowd of base foemen all stained with his blood, 
O'er the dying great Chief as he sunk in the flood : 
Yet the Hero next morning, revived and renewed, 
Rose in glory again and his journey pursued. 
It was down, then, beneath the deep Sea and this Earth 
He was steeped in fresh vigor, endowed with new birth. — . 
Might not Maui descend to this Life-spring and bathe 
In its waters, and shake off the scorn and the scathe 
Of this tyrant, this Death, and delighted reswathe 



canto xii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 195 

His limbs in the glory and gladness of youth 

In those mystical depths ? — He would try it, in sooth ! — 

But, to find where those springs of vitality flow 

In what ultimate gulfs and abysses below ! 

Could it be where the Mountains' foundations are laid 

In the realm of red Ru, or the Reinga's deep shade ?- " 



" The realm of Ru— the Earthquake God ! 
More awful realm, i'faith, than e'er was trod 
By jinn or gnome must Ru's have been ! " 
Cried Ranolf — " fancy what a scene ! — 
What bellowing Caverns measureless and dread — 
With rents in thunder running overhead ; 
Far seen through low-browed arches glimmering red, 
A Sea perpetual agitation frets and churns 
To foam, that luridly illumined burns ! 
Then wide and wider yawn the branching rents 
That through the black impending granite spread ; 
And lo ! the vast Abyss hurled upward vents 
A maddening Chaos of all elements — 

An infinite ruin of red fire 
And flying rocks fire-molten — tumult dire 
Of roaring steam and sulphurous blasts and lava seas 
And forests of upshooting flame and tower-trunked trees 
Of pitchy cloud and sky-hung cinderous canopies — 
All the fire- entrails of that cavernous pit 
Whirled upwards through one vast volcano-rift ! — 
'Tis Ru ! 'tis Ru I with red wild eyes, 
And blazing far- coitus cant hair, 
And frowns that blacken half their glare, 
Outrushifig from his .burning lair 
Into a realm for his distorting fit ! — 



1 96 Ranolf and A mohia. [canto xii- 

For see ! whene'er the hurricane drift 
Of heaven-outblotting ashes swift 
Breaks off, the ensanguined dome of cloud 
Seems shattered, frittered to a crowd 
Of fragments small of uniform shape and size, 
As by some shock that ran at once through all 
The shivering Earth and shuddering skies ! 

See ! far and near — see ! great and small 

His band awake?iing at his call ! 

How their volcano-fires appal ! 
Here, white, intense and awful and half-hid 
By upheaved strata, lifted like the lid 
Of some enormous, black half-opened tomb 
Within whose jaws condensed it glows self-fanned : — 
There, shot up silent — sudden — athwart the gloom, 
Pillars of ruddy light unmoving stand ! 
And many a sheaf of vivid flame up-showers, 

Crested with scarlet flowers 
Of red-hot scoria : — level stripes of gold 
Afar in lakes the Lava sleeps, 
Or like a swarm of deadly serpents creeps, 
Or down the shaking mountain-steeps 
Dashes in crimson cataracts uncontrolled : 
And peaks and pinnacles and ridges bold 
In fluctuation terrible are rolled, 
And rise and sink like sea-waves ; underground 
A deadened roar goes on for ever with a sound 
As if a hundred Giants waking would have risen, 
But bumped and thumped their heads against the roof 
Of their too-cramping subterranean prison ! 
A world's artillery crashes near— aloof 
Reverberating thunders rumble round 
The mountain-filled horizon — But I stay 



canto xil] Ranolf and Amohia. 197 

Your story — let us hear how Maui found 

Down to those life-springs his adventurous way ! " 

" Well, Maui resolved to descend to the womb 

Of original Night — to the kingdom of gloom ; 

For 'twas there that this water, these life-springs must flow 

And its mouth is beneath the dark tide, as you know, 

In the uttermost North, at the end of the land, 

Where a rocky long causeway of pinnacles grand 

Breaks off mid the waves' ever-restless commotion 

Far away in the lonely and limitless Ocean. 

So direct to the mouth of that darksome abode 

O'er the mountains from summit to summit he strode ; 

And his legs as he stalked on his wonderful way, 

Caught sight of beneath the broad cloud-skirts of gray, 

Might have seemed the dim rays, wide aslant, which the Sun 

Flings beneath him sometimes ere his bright course be run ; 

And his Form when full seen, swept toweringly by, 

Reared aloft like the waterspout whirling on high 

In a dark-waving column from Ocean to Sky. 

So he strode through the clouds to the terrible pass. 

Then, although his vast might had availed, in a mass 

To uplift from the Sea the whole rocky-backed Cape — 

As blue in bright distance, long headlands will gape 

On a sleek summer morning, warped up from the main, 

Like the snout of some monster, just raised from the plain 

As he listlessly crawls in slow length from his lair, 

And pauses a moment to sniff the cool air — 

Yet determined its natural terrors to dare, 

Or fearing the road so subverted to miss, 

Head foremost he plunged down the pitchblack abyss. 

But when great Mother Night, Hirie-Niii-te-Po, 

Perceived her inviolate regions below 



198 Ranolf and Amohia, [canto xii. 

So profaned, a deep shudder of horror and dread, 
Through the cavernous realms of the shadowy Dead, 
Round their sombre and silent circumference ran ; 
That was just as bold Maui his passage began : — 
But when still he persists in his daring endeavour 
The shudders, the horrors grow wilder than ever ! 
A more terrible spasm, a desperate shock 
Contracts and convulses those portals of rock ; 
And ere his great head and vast shoulders get through 
They cut the gigantic Intruder in two ! — 
So ended great Maui — so vanished his dream, 
And in spite of him Death was left tyrant supreme ! " 

" Well, these are genuine Myths at last," 
Thought Ranolf, " samples from the Past 
Of modes men caught at to record 
Notions for which they had no word ; 
So clothed, unable to abstract, 
Emotions deep in fancied fact ; 
To else unutterable thought 
Imaginative utterance brought : 
So these expressed, to souls untaught 
Thought from some Mind that thought, to part, 
And feeling from some feeling Heart- 
How futile every effort still 
To fathom Death's mysterious ill ; 
How of all phantoms of Despair 
Frowns one, no noble heart can bear, 
A ghastly horror, nothing less, 
Beyond relief, without redress, 
The Nightmare of pure Nothingness : 
How hateful, spite of all endeavour, 
How utterly repugnant ever, 



canto xii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 199 

No tongue can tell to what degree, 

It is to Being not to Be. 

Aye ! none the less for that mad scheme, 

The Buddhists' nihilistic dream, 

Spurned by the masses wholly — since 

Ev'n he — its half-crazed Founder-Prince, 

(If e'er the tenet was his own, 

Not Kasyapa, his friend's alone) 

Was forced in self-despite to teach, 

A million ages' high persistence 

In virtue must elapse, ere each 

Or any could attain, evince 

Capacity for non-existence — 

Mere power of soul-extinction reach. 

These wiser Savages at least were true 

To one grand Instinct — somehow felt and knew 

Nothing but conscious individual life — 

No * mingling with the visible Universe' 

Or { painless sleep for ever ' — worse than pain — 

Will satisfy the everlasting strife 

That must be waged without it ; what a curse, 

A mockery this Existence (if no worse) 

Did future Nothingness for Man remain ; 

The highest feelings, then, he can attain, 

The best delights, but traps and lures would be 

To cheat him into madder misery." 

in. 
The night wore on — his friends were gone ; 
Still Ranolf paced and mused alone. 
It chanced, a little lad who slept 
In his men's hut that evening — come 
For change' sake from his neighbouring home — 



20O Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xn. 

Felt thirsty ; from his mattings crept, 

The yellow calabash to find, 

Which, hollowed out, a hardened rind, 

Was mostly full of water kept, 

Twas empty : looking out, " Tis light 

(He thought) almost as day : " — so quite 

Forgot his native fear of Night, 

And to the spring beneath the hill 

Set off his calabash to fill. 

The spring was close beside the path 
To that quick -bubbling crystal bath 
Where Amohia rested ; she 
Could in the moonlit distance see 
The cot and its karaka-tree, 
And Ranolf now emerge, so clear, 
Now in its shadow disappear. 
And she had marked the little lad 
Set off her way with heart how glad ; 
And when he neared her bright retreat, 
That heart with high expectance beat. 
Hard-by there grew in snowy bloom 
Thickets of aromatic broom ; 
Within whose green impervious screen, 
Stand but a yard, she ne'er were seen. 
Into the copse she quickly slipped, 
Three steps from where the fountain dripped. 
There, breathless, stirless, on the watch, 
She formed her little scheme — until 
The thirsty lad had drunk his fill, 
And held his calabash to catch 
The water of the trickling spring. 
Then in a warbling voice, low sweet and wild, 









canto xii.] Ranoif and Amohia. 201 

That intertwined with its harmonious plash, 
The hidden Girl began to sing 
A ditty to the startled Child 
About " a fountain " and "a calabash : " 



1. 

" Golden water ! golden water ! 
Flowing freely, flowing ever, 

Flowing since the World began ; 
What shall we pour it in — 
Heedfully store it in ? — 
If your calabash be not quite clean — if any foulness begrime 

or besmutch it, 
O you never will catch the clear rillet — it will shrink away 
as you touch it ! 

2. 
" Golden water ! golden water ! 
Flowing coyly, dried up never 
Since Tumatau moulded Man ; 
Flowing so tamelessly, 
Seeming so aimlessly ! — 
Would you catch it with hands unsteady, or a heart with 

passion fretted ? 
Would you guide it in spouts of flax-leaf as you please ? — 
Oh, you'll only get wetted ! " — 

The Child, at first too terrified 

Even to run away, stood there 

Holding the calabash in air, 

With cheeks all blanched — mouth gaping wide, 

And eyes outstarting ; reassured 



202 Ranolf and AmoJiia. [canto xii. 

A little now, he seemed to gain 

Some heart to list the simple strain ; 

But 'twas the voice that most allured, 

And most his confidence secured. 

Had not the Maid been ever known 

And loved for that melodious tone ? 

And was it not at birth instilled, 

That voice like Music ? when they killed 

In numbers at her name-day feast 

The Korimdko, sweetest bird 

Of all that are in forest heard ? 

That so, with prayers of chanting priest, 

The spirit of their sweetness might 

Upon the happy Child alight, 

And her maturing accents be 

Unmatched for kindred melody? — 

So doubtful if to run or stay, 

He stood — while she resumed her lay : 

3- 

" Crystal water ! crystal water ! 
Glistening out, then disappearing ; 
Blinding those who wink and blink : 
How to get near it, then ? — 
Forward, ne'er fear it, then ! 
Sharp eye and free step— no crawling or creeping sideways 

like a shellfish — 
All else like an innocent Child— confiding — straightforward 
— unselfish ! 

4- 
" Crystal water ! crystal water ! 
Chilling often, often cheering, 






canto xii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 203 

Numbing those who cease to drink : 
How can we use it well ? — 
Drink and diffuse it well ! 
If in finely-carved cisterns you try to enclose it securely — 
Tiny monsters will breed there and wriggle — it will stagnate 
impurely. 

5- 
" Diamond water ! diamond water ! 
Warbling to all tribes and ages, 
Welling near us yet apart : 
Who is it guards it so ? 
Watches and wards it so ? — 
If you fear any Spirit too much, you'll ne'er see it though 

flowing close by you — 
But revere you no Spirit at all? — what you drink will but 
petrify you. 

6. 
" Diamond water ! diamond water ! 
With still, lucent eye of Sages, 
But with Childhood's open heart ; 
So may you light on it, 
Thrive and grow bright on it ! " — 
Here Amohia from the thicket springing 
Whisked from his hand the flask it clung to, singing : 
"Though your calabash be battered, bruised — yet fear not 

you to fill it — 
For the better 'twill hold, the fresher keep, this flitting, 
magical, rillet" 

— This was a song, in fact, by Ranolf made, 
And turned to Maori to assay 



204 Rauolf and Amohia. [canto xii. 

His skill, and see how far would reach 
Or be constrained, the native speech ; 
When sport was slack one summer day, 
As ambushed in tall reeds he lay, 
Just in the wary wild duck's way — 
While thinking by what wonder it befel, 
And with what natural supernatural aid — 
The mighty Stream — the fluent race of Man, 
Since first its mystic course began, 
Even while in foam and turbulence it ran 
Adown those ancient faintly-glimmering slopes 
The shadowy-lit Himalayas of old Time, 

Had still been fed from age to age 
With springs of Spiritual Truth sublime ; 
Rillets and runnels of immortal Hopes : 
Some crystal Soul of saint or sage 
For the great River timeously supplied ; 
Slipping, as 'twere, from any side, 
Into its clouded and tumultuous tide : — 
And how above, around us, and below 
Those myriad-branching rivulets may flow 
Capriciously, it seems, yet ever feeding 
The heart of Man when most 'tis needing : — » 
Then all the evil that proceeds 
From dams and dykes of narrow Creeds ; — 
Last how to enter that coy shadowy ground, 
And the pure runnel's bright arrival wait ; 
Or in what spirit penetrate 
Up to the airhung crevices of snow, 
Or thicket-stifled gorges, dense, profound, 
Where those divinest Wellsprings may abound. — 



canto xii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 205 

Well, but this Song, a glimpse, a hint, 
An impress from Reflection's mint 
Struck faintly of a theme so vast — 
Of a wide bee-eyed truth one tiny facet 
With nothing but simplicity to grace it — 
The fancy of the native girls had caught 
(Who only of its literal meaning thought) 
And Amohia's self had reached at last. 

IV. 

But that slight gesture of the Maid 
Which tossed the calabash away, 
Renewed the fears her song allayed ; 
No gift had bribed the Child to stay. 
To Ranolf's side he scampered back 
Aghast, agape with fright — Alack ! 
There was a Spirit at the well, 
A Pdtu-pdere I he could tell — 
That voice so sweet— that form so fair, 
Those eyes, with such a dancing glare ! — 

Rebuked, cross-questioned, coaxed or jeered, 
Still to his tale the lad adhered. 
So Ranolf, as he could not sleep, 
And must perforce a vigil keep, 
Strolled to the Spring himself to see 
What might this wondrous Spirit be. 



2o6 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xiii. 



CANTO THE THIRTEENTH. 



i. 

" Spirits— still Spirits !— strange that every race 

Of Man," thought Ranolf as he went, 

" Still on that fixed idea is bent, 

That in some fashion, form or place, 

Spirit without Matter can and does exist : 

Yet to its source whene'er we trace 

Some record of its presence, sent 

Without a bodily environment, 

The 'proof (so-called) is always missed. 

What then? — Is Matter's self much better off? 

Prove its appearance unallied 

With Spirit, if you can. Sure, Reason's pride 

Should spurn the refuge of a scoff, 

When Matter's very being is denied, 

And bring us proof Probe Matter to the last, 

Nothing but active Spirit will be found : 

Aye, all we see and hear, the glorious round 

Of our sensations has no other ground; 

Only their sequence stands so fixed and fast ; 

In such unchanged alliance are they passed 

Before us by the Master-Showman's hand. — 

All Ghosts and Apparitions here we stand ! 



canto xiii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 207 

And for your vulgar * ghosts,' indeed 

Tis breach of sequence only that we need 

Produce — no more ; prove shadows may succeed 

Each other in a series yet to law 

Unknown; find but a single certain flaw 

Or falter in the dream-procession grand. 

An easy task 'twould seem ! And yet 'tis true 

'Tis that — that merely — we can never do ! 

And yet, since Man will have his Ghost 
Whate'er his race — not as a thing to boast 
Or glory in ; no fancy bright and wild 
Of one by his self-love beguiled, 
No whim by fond ambition feigned or fed, 
Or vulgar ' medium ' by imposture bred ; 
But as a terror, a revolting dread, 
Which his repugnant Will had gladly fled ; 
What can be thought, when all is said, 
But that about this notion there must be 
Some still unravelled mystery, 
Some germ of purposed certainty." 



n. 
So Ranoh sauntered down the hill, 
And now had reached the trickling rill. 
There, all save its low plash was still ; 
Only a movement caught his eye 
Scarce visible, as he drew nigh 
The thicket dense that grew thereby ; 
Only a bough's-top in the brake 
Did for a single moment shake. 
He pushed straight towards it through the broom ; 



208 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xiii. 

But finding nothing in the gloom, 
Came out upon the open Lake. 

Still all was lonely — silent — bright ; 
Only himself and living light ! — 
He followed where the pathway wound 
Beneath the cliffs, with many a turn 
Round buttressed steep, projecting mound, 
And waterscarped low spur tree-crowned, 
Or rocky — bare of bush or fern. 

One of these last he just had passed : — 

Beyond it lay in deepest shade 

A dense ravine's mouth, which had made 

With clustered shrubs a safe retreat 

For foeman of pursuit afraid. 

He paused : — could mark no trace of feet, 

No sign of life — before — around ; 

Saw nothing move — heard not a sound — 

But keenly gazed into the gloom profound. 

No sound, indeed, no motion. All in tune 

With speaking Silence. Even the Moon 

Lulled in the lap of Heaven serene 

Lay back — albeit with watchful mien. 
Transfigured by her flooding rays 
To airy cloud, the Mountains blue 
Up to their floating goddess threw 
A rapt and meditative gaze. 

Upon the moonlit fractured rock beside him, 
With not a rustle that the ear would strike, 
A rapid-wriggling Lizard lightning-like 



canto xiil] Ranolf and Amohia. 209 

Leapt into stoniest stillness. In the dark, 
Only a steady diamond spark 
Told where it watching stood and sidelong eyed him. 

" How well," he thought, " these creatures suit, 
How well uphold their ill-repute ; 
By all these natives held in dread, 
Because informed by Spirits of the dead." 

In the full stream of light, 
Close to his cheek, projecting on his right, 
His glance was resting on a bright green sprig 
Of broom-like myrtle. — As he looked, it grew 
To something that was watching too. 
A span-long Phasmid then he knew, 
Stretching its forelimbs like a branching twig 
In air, and motionless as death — 
Save that it swayed its frail form to and fro 
Gently, as in a soft wind's dying breath, 
And then subsided slow 

To rigid stillness. There, 
Its forelimbs still outstretched in air, 
With startling faith in its weird wondrous trick 
Of aping lower life, the animated Stick 
In watchful mood 
Close to his cheek unmoving stood. 

Suspense how fixed and strange — 
Dumb witchery of magic change ! 
Swift spritelike life to seeming death — and seeming 
Inanimate life to deathlike animation — 
The real and seeming seemed to waver, reel, and mingle ! 
One of those flashes for a moment gleaming, 

+- 14 



210 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xirr. 

When o'er the Soul the thought will pass, 
' Is it illusion then, this whole Creation, 

This outward Universe, a breath on glass ? ' — 
One of those pauses in the rush 
Of Life's phantasmagoric dreaming, 
When in the hush, 
The Spiritual speaks in vivid hints that tingle 
Through our material framework, listening vigilant ; 
And as the deep-sea plummet, Consciousness, 
Strikes soundings on the eternal adamant 
Beneath the visionary Ocean 
Whereon our frail barks ever forward press, 
And rock and nod 
With such unquiet motion — 
Lo ! the revealing veil of God 
Called Nature — as transpierced by darkling light 
Divine — imprisoned splendour — on the fret 
To escape for all her cunning might, 
Emits keen sparkles in her own despite ; 
And seems one moment almost to forget 
Her tantalizing trust, her mystic high vocation ; 
Seems for a thrilling moment, just about 
To turn transparent wholly, and to let 
Her awful Secret out. 

The conscious Silence seemed to win 
Its way across the fleshly bar, 
To some responsive sense akin 
His own deep soul within ; 
As in the shadowy river pool 
Below the rapids, still and full, 
Two floating globules nearing run 
Together into one. 






canto xiii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 211 



And now a little breath of air, 
That had, it seemed, been lurking there, 

Itself the moonlit calm enjoying, 
Along the white bright-shadowy cliffs behind him, 
Stealing, as if glad to find him, 
Came creeping through his hair and with its clusters toying ; 
Then passed — and left the lonely shore, 
Hushed and breathless as before. 

Again the haunting shy mistrust 
Of Nature's simplest doings thrust 
Its coy suggestive self between 
The sensuous impress on his brain 
And the conclusion, else so plain, 
Of what it was, might be or mean. 
Almost he could have held it true, 
That fancy of the land he knew, 
The creeping breeze must be a spirit too. 
He dallied with the whim awhile — 
Then with a musing smile, 
His idle quest renounced as vain, 
Turned his cottage to regain. 

in. 
" What is there," he thought, " in the scene, in the hour, 
The moonlight — the silence — that tempts us to dower 

All Nature thus with spiritual power ? 

Can it be that their magical influence 

But awakes in ourselves a keener sense 

Of some mysterious manifold chain — 

The myriad channels that may knit 

Magnetic currents of the brain, 



212 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xiii. 

Or subtler filaments more fit, 

Along which Thought and Feeling flit, 

To those that permeate Air and Earth 

And all things that from these have birth ? 

Linking in one consentient whole 

All Nature to each living Soul ; 

And opening for each Soul again 

Subtle ways of intercourse 

With every other, near, aloof; 

An infinite web of spiritual force, 

An universal warp-and-woof 

Of Sympathy — though yet but rare 

The minds whereby, the moments when, 

The mystic threads and what they bear 

(Like gossamers fine in autumn air 

That softly undulate, float, and run, 

Viewless but where they catch the sun) 

Are brought within the conscious ken ? " 

IV. 

Slowly, and with looks downbent, 
On such wayw r ard thoughts intent, 
By the rocky path he went 
Suddenly a hand is thrown 
Lightly, softly on his own. 
Lightly as rosy apple-bloom 
Comes twirling to the orchard-grass, 
When April winds that gaily pass 
Kiss it away to its sunny doom. 
So softly o'er his fingers flew 
That timid playful pressure too — 
The velvet plumage, all aglow 
With jetty black and violet blue, 



canto xiii. ] Ranolf and Amohia. 213 

Of the crimson-billed porphyrio, 
That jerking struts among the cool 
Thick rushes by their rust-red pool — 
Felt never more soft, more downy-smooth. 
Quickly turned the startled youth, 
And the sight that met his eyes 
Brightened them with glad surprise. 

There was a deeply-scooped recess 

In the rock-side's ruggedness, 

Hollow and arching : you discern 

Through the moon-illumined gloom, 

Mantling it above, below. 

Wondrous work of Nature's loom, 

Delicate broidry like a bride's — 

Traceried wealth of many a fern. 

Some are filmy-fine and soaking wet, 

By the ever-oozing lymph 

Matted to its dripping sides ; 
Some are thatch-like thick-layered — some plume-like and 

free; 
Some like fingers outspread, that caressing and fond 
Would clutch at all comers whoever they be ; 
Some soft, silver-woven, down-pointing and broad, 
Like Seraphims' wings when their eyes they would shade 
From the shock of that Robe-Skirt's ineffable load 
Of splendour that else the high heavens dismayed ! 
But finger-like, feather-like, wing-like — each frond 
(As by daylight the curious eye might see !) 
Bedropt and bestudded and thickly beset 
With intricate, daintiest fancy-freaks 
Of golden spots and russet streaks. . 
More gracefully draperied niche never yet 



214 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xm. 

Enshrined the pure graces of goddess or nymph ; 
And rarely has Goddess or Wood-nymph been 
With statelier graces endued than were seen 
In the Maiden who stood in that alcove so green ! 



canto xiv.] Ranolf mid Amohia. 215 






CANTO THE FOURTEENTH. 

1. 

In days when Nature — ere discharmed, 

Undeified by Science — swarmed 

With bright Divinities akin 

To the forces that within 

Her outward phases lurked terrific. 

Or in genial ferment bland 

Slumbered in her blissful breast, 

In daimoniac delitescence ; 

Till with fervour too intense, 

They would quicken and condense 

And kindle into visible presence 

And vitality specific, 

Glowing on the too imprest 

Keen sense in Shapes, appalling, grand 

Grotesque or graceful — Phantoms haunting 

And to human beauty moulding, 

For quick-fancied Faith's beholding, 

(Till all Earth was holy ground) 

All the still-eyed Soul that broods 

In wide wind-whispering solitudes — 

Each cloudchase chequering hill and plain — 

Moon-shadows — sunny silences — 



216 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xiv 

Lone mists on fire in glens profound — 

Old half-lit trunks of twisted trees — 

And stealthy gleams in gloomy woods ; — 

In those old days what dearer dreaming 

Than the Vision such deep feeling, 

Instantaneously revealing 

Traits of rare resemblance, fashioned 

Out of things so diverse-seeming, 

Ocean-foam and Love impassioned, — 

As it flashed in pictured splendour 

On the fine Ephesian brain ? — 

Will devotion true and tender 

Ever at that shrine be wanting ? 

Ever poet's heart refrain 

From a chance to touch again 

That wan sweet faith and form enchanting — 

Sweetest myth of all the train ? 

Of all the mystic Shapes and mighty, 

Sovran, while Love's passionate pain 

Can the senses charm and chain — 

That dream divine of Aphrodite 

Freshly risen from the main ? 

Lo ! upon the amber sands, 
Brilliant throbbing Apparition — 
As if poised in air she stands ! 
Proudly conscious, frankly smiling, 
Sure of homage, love, submission ; 
Mostly triumph — some surprise, 
In the dangerous innocent eyes, 
Where, what witchery world -beguiling 
Lies in childlike archness hid ! 
Where the sense grows faint to mark 



canto xiv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 2iJ 

How the purple depths that glow- 
Like the velvet-petalled pansy, show 
Dark — almost too lovely-dark — 
Too like a stain almost, — amid 
All that gleam of snowy brightness, 
All her form's effulgent whiteness : 
While the dazzling flood of tresses 
Ripples like gold lines of light 
In a hanging waterfall, 
When you look from the curved rock-wall 
Behind it, through its crystal pall ; 
Wavy sunbeams whence she presses 
With those rosy-tipped fair fingers 
Every diamond-drop that lingers 
Lovingly in their bright recesses. 
So was seen the Foam-born standing — 
So for ever standeth she 
In enamoured memory — 
Darling Anadyomene ! 
While the leopard-sleek and fawning Sea 
Round her plays caressingly, 
Plays in many a broad festoon 
Of foam-flowers — many a sliding sheet 
Lovely-creaming, long-expanding, 
Then dying off in a luxurious swoon ; — 
As if Poseidon love-beguiled, 
To beguile, attract, adore her, 
Ere he stood confest before her, 
Mocked the playful gambols mild 
Of some creature of the wild ; 
And one sweet look to deserve, 
But one glance so killing-sweet, 
Kept the simple wile repeating, 



218 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xiv 

Stealing swiftly, curve on curve, 
Bounding forward and retreating, 
Cowering, crouching at her feet. 

ii. 

Like and unlike — such counterpart 

And contrast to that deathless dream of Art, 

As gay glad Sunrise when it breaks 

In splendour-smitten mist and sparkling dew, 

To all the deep-impurpled tenderness 

Of soft-illumined Sunset makes, 

Though both impress 
Their varying glories on the self-same view : 
So like and so unlike — the Vision seemed 
That on our Wanderer now in beauty beamed. 

There, as the shy white crane, so rarely seen, 
Stands proudly gentle and reserved, 
Erect, but with her neck back-curved 
Her breast's light-waving snow to preen — 
There Amohia stood. Although downcast the rays 
Of her clear-shining eyes — and on her cheek 
The rosy flushings momently that broke 
Through the clear olive, some distress bespoke — 
Yet grandly winning and queenly-meek, 
Erect the Maiden stood. About her all 
Her affluent hair, unstirred by any breeze 
Fell sheltering — a sable silky pall. 
How like a strong ebullient swarm 
Of hive-o'erflowing honey-bees 
Forth issuing black and glad a hundred ways, 
Still soaking wet and dripping yet, 
The tendrilled tresses spread and ran and clung 



canto xiv.] Ranolf and AmoJiia. 219 

To all the balanced beauties of her form ; 
And sinuously streaming 
Adown her polished shoulder palely gleaming, 
And rippling ebon-soft over her rounded arm, 
A natural drapery hung. 



The moonlight's vague unsteady brightness 
And depth of mellow shade, 
Bewilderingly beauteous made 
(So half-concealed and half-displayed) 
The graces of a Form wherein it seemed 

A bounding spirit of young elastic Life essayed, 
In conscious exultation, 
To float and flow and wind and wander 

And on itself return in many a coy meander 
And subtle undulation ; 
And yet — as all perfection blends 
Harmonious opposites for happiest ends — 
Seemed ever in its wild luxuriance chained 

And by a stronger spirit of proud reserve restrained, 
Upholding the fine form in winged lightness — 
As ivory serpents, held in graceful bond 

Would twine of old about a silver Hermes-wand. 

in. 
So Amohia stood — nor longer sported ; 
Quite serious now, perhaps a little trembling ; 
Yet, though her bosom's quickened rise 
And fall betrayed the anxious breathing, 
By clear unconscious innocence supported, 
And that sweet might of Nature when it knows 
Few laws conventional that teach dissembling ; 



220 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xiv. 

So that true Love in loving act o'erflows 

As truly, artlessly, in loveliest guise, 

As from the bud's moss-browned and tender sheathing, 

When Spring has swollen its crumpled tissues 

And filled them with its genial influence, issues 

That crimson apparition— the young rose. 

" Stranger — from far realms that lie 
Beyond the steep slope of the sky, 
Hapless Amohia, see, 
Chieftain's daughter though she be, 
Gives her love, her life to thee. 
Amohia throws aside 
Rank and chieftainship and pride ; 
For the lonely Stranger's sake 
Every tie has dared to break ; 
Dared desert, with him to roam, 
Father, Mother, friends and home ; 
All the Atuas' wrath to brave, 
But to be the Stranger's slave. — 
Take her — teach her — till she be 
Worthy thy great race and thee ! " 

" Dearest — loveliest — bravest Maid, 
Your true love shall be well repaid ! 
But whence, and how, my grand Wildnower, 
Came you — and thus — at such an hour?" 

" I swam the Lake — was almost gone — 
Reached land and hither stole alone." 

Surprise a moment held him dumb — 
And why set down the words he spoke — 



canto xiv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 221 

Disjoined and crowded as the sum 

Of mingled feelings that within him woke ? — 

What speech has Passion's mastering moods ? what 

speech 
Is possible to any Ecstasy ? 
Can finite words an infinite feeling reach, 
Or the mere bounded Intellect express 
The Soul's emotions in their boundlessness ? 
No ! as the sky-drawn moisture that distils 
Down from the sky-aspiring hills, 
A sea-side valley slowly fills — 
But, if some milder earthquake's pant 
Have slightly changed its downward slant, 
Suddenly bursts the marsh below 
And seaward rushes in mad overflow, 
Bearing before it to the mighty Main 
The wrecked and flowery richness of the plain, 
Till all the calm eternal blue, 
About the outlet of the river new, 
Is strewn with floating fragments — little isles 
Where still the clinging flax-flower smiles, 
Minute azolla-stains of ruddiest hue, 
And many a water-loving bloom that grew 
Luxuriant while the swamp its moisture could sustain : — 
So Speech and all the forms of Thought, 
Yea, every medium Intellect supplies, 

Are shattered and distraught, 
Whene'er the o'er-informing Soul doth rise 

And swell and sweep in native might 

On to its kindred Infinite — 

And broken words and images essay 

In vain the abounding current to convey, 

In vain to express the inexpressible ; 



222 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xrv, 

While blissful moans and happy murmurs tell, — 

And only they, — 
How the Eternal that within us sleeps, 
Stirred to its inmost mystic deeps, 
Is welling forth its own imperial way — 
Bursting the crust where Custom's weeds are growing, 
And its material marge triumphantly o'erflowing ! 



IV. 

What wonder therefore if our youth's emotion, 
With no coherent flow of phrases fair, 

Could answer that devotion ? 
If, while beneath the showering night 
Of gleaming hair, dark eyes all light 
Burned on him — speaking speechless tendernesses — 
He could but answer, warm and wild, 
With many a fervent deep ejaculation 
Of pity, love and admiration ; 
With broken words and tones endearing, 
Soothing, comforting and cheering ; 
And the soul-converse was sustained 
With the only eloquence of passionate caresses, 
Kissed eyes and lips, and fluttering breath and fondled tresses, 
And throbbing hearts together strained : 
Till with his cloak around her thrown 
He led her to his dwelling lone ; 
By all the law the land supplied 
So wedded and so made his bride : 
And as they went in rapturous tone 
Loving and low, half murmured and half sung 
A playful tender ditty in her native tongue : 






canto xiv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 223 

" Praise her — bless her — caress her / lavish glorious gifts 

upon her ; 
Piles of woven wealth to dress her — glossy-rippling robes of 

honour / 
O our Pride, the peerless, single — many-vassaled Chiefs' 

descendant — 
Flax o' the finest, silky-tasselled — breadth o'er breadth of 

costly chequer, 
Choicest broidries shall bedeck her ! all to grace that form 

divinest, 
And its buoyant blithe uprightness, and its lithe and sinuous 

lightness, 
Rapture-fraught for souls supinest — proudly, peerlessly 

array. — 
Range for birds of beauteous feather, marsh and mountain, 

dell and dingle — 
Stock-doves on whose necks resplendent rich reflections 

melt and mingle ; 
Black Sultana-birds blue-breasted as deep Ocean in blue 

weather ; 
Cuckoos, many a shy Sea-comer with its green dusk-golden 

glimmer, 
Lackey of the golden Summer, Sun-attendant : — and scarce 

dimmer 
Than that wanderer alien-nested, paraquitos crimson- 
crested, 
Like Spring's emerald verdure vested ; — parrots dyed like 

dying day. 
Weave their downy hues together — weave, relieve each tint 

transcendent ; 
And the mantle bride-beseeming, fair as fairy gifts in 

dreaming, 



224 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xiv. 

Round her shoulders shapely-showing, wrap it fondly — fold 

the flowing 
Feathery softness, beaming, glowing, with the rainbow's 

radiance gay. 
From her rounded neck dependent — where it curves so 

proud and stately, 
Where her buoyant bosom heaves in tranquil triumph how 

sedately, 
Precious trinkets, famous, greatly-storied from old days or 

lately, 
Lucid as transparent leaves in sunshine, shall their green 

display. 
For her tresses — massy-streaming — floods of glittering 

gloom and brightness — 
Black as pine-trunks burnt and gleaming, charred and sunlit 

boles and bosses ! 
Heron-plumes of snowy whiteness — down of sea-pure alba- 
trosses — 
Like foam-flakes on torrents raving through swart chasms 

night-en caving — 
O'er those ebon wavelets waving, — shall the Chieftainess 

betray. 
Then caress her — -praise her — bless her ; load her with 

delight and honour ; 
Let no evil thing distress her ; lavish all your love upon 

herr 



canto xv.] Ranolf and AmoJiia. 225 



CANTO THE FIFTEENTH. 



1. 

The dawn, faint-tinted as a yellow rose, 

Peeped behind mountains purple-black as sloes ; 

O'er these — a tuft of thick short shreds (not ra}s) 

Of brilliancy, the Morning Star ablaze 

On the funereal darkness seemed to gaze, — 

Awe -struck forerunner of the Sun beneath, — 

Checked at his sudden entrance on a scene 

Solemn with all the sable pomp of death, 

The thousand lights still burning for the Queen 

Laid out in state — the just departed Night. — 

Then Amo, starting from her brief repose, 

Urged upon Ranolf their immediate flight ; 

For fly they must from that dread Priest she said, 

Or even her Father by his counsels led. 

Vain Ranolf 's reasoned wish to try his skill 

Upon her sire, and bend perchance his will 

Into approval of their love. — " Nay— nay — 

Fly — fly ! " she prayed, and he of course gave way 

A power there's no resisting or ignoring, — 

A loving, loved and lovely one imploring ! 

True, the romance of her proposal charmed ; 

As o'er its possibilities he ran, 

15 



226 Ranolf mid Amohia. [canto xv. 

Visions of risks defied his fancy warmed : 

To steal by night through unsuspecting foes, 

Or baffle them suspecting, was a plan 

At which his buoyancy of spirit rose. 

His followers therefore quickly paid — dismissed — 

Were Northward with his light effects sent back. 

One lad of Amo's tribe would still insist 

(Te Manu 'twas, who brought the fish that day, 

And served him since for pleasure and some pay) 

Out of new love for him and old for her — 

He should not from their side be forced to stir ; 

Pleading his usefulness — to bear a pack, 

Cook — work — provide such comforts they would lack 

Nay, to their safety sometimes minister. 

So be it then. What needs is promptly done ; 

Revolver trim and double-barrell'd gun, 

Powder and shot and fish-hooks not a few, 

And axe, and matches, most essential too, 

Some extra mats for tent-roofs against rain, 

And — better currency than minted gold, 

A savage's best treasures to unfold — 

Allowance good of treacle-smelling cakes 

Of jammed tobacco-plaits; with odds and ends, 

The boy at cost of carrying would retain 

Of fancied value to himself or friends — 

Light shoulder-burdens — he or Ranolf takes. 

Prosaic details, truly ! Lady mine — 
Who hold etherial Love a power divi?ie; 
let it not your fervid faith displease, 
Romance so realistic stoops to these ! 

Love is the prime of Gods — O clearly ! 
A Thaumaturge and Master -mage is he ; 



canto xv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 227 

Let all confess him as puissant — (nearly) — 

As he conceits himself to be ! 
Yes ! yes ! we know, and none deny. 
All risks, all ventures, He will try, 
All checks and chances, dare — defy ! 
To his great heart and hope elate 
What are the threats of adverse Fate ! 
How fade the frowns of Circumstance 
Before his forward-leaping glance ! 
His course that ever forth and far 
Seems trained by some triumphant Star 
Shall rivers bound, shall mountains bar ? — 
One look, and lo ! from mouth to fountain 
Uprising from its gravelly bed, 
Each river, shrunk to a silver thread 
Floats gossamer-like across the lea ; 
One waive or nod of hand or head, 
And every forest-puckered mountain 
Rocked from its base uneasily 
Goes crab-like lumbering to the Sea ! — 
Shall not the Ocean heave up pearls 
To deck one Beauty's golden curls ? 
Shall not the Stars come trickling down 
If one dear brow demand a crown ? — 
Yes, fair ones ! so shall you decree, 
And youthful hearts shall all agree 
In Love's divine supremacy ! 
Though duller Deities the while 
May at his proud pretensions smile ; 
Bid Cold and gaunt-eyed Hunger clip 
The splendour of his purple wings ; 
And from his graceful shoulders strip 
The golden bow, the ivory quiver, 



228 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xv. 

Unless across them too he flings 
The wallet vile and vulgar scrip, 
Replete with gross substantial things ; 
Nay, make the beauteous stripling shiver 
Unless to some frieze cloak he clings ; 
Nor, jealous, let the bright Joy-Giver 
From Psyche's mouth the honey sip, 
And purse and press her sweet lips out 
To semblance of a tempting pout, 
Or round them bud- like for the bliss 
Of a playful passionate kiss, 
Till with his own he first have blown 
Each rosy frozen finger-tip. 
Ah sad ! this glowing glorious God to see, 
And think what paltry hests and heeds may be 
Importunate, imperative as he ! 



So to the forests on Taupiri's face 

O'er the low cliffs at first the three retreat ; 

There they can find a handy hiding-place, 

And Amohia rest through noonday heat. 

At nightfall they retrace their steps at first 

Uncertain — guided by immediate need 

Of shelter — and resolve their course to shape 

By Amo's counsel for the land that nursed 

Her mother, whose great brother ruled indeed 

O'er all the tribes about the earliest Cape 

The Sun salutes when his resplendent hair 

Shakes off the foam -flakes of his Ocean-lair ; 

There she was well-beloved ; and both might there, 

She for her mother's, he for her sake, share 

The nigh-related Chief's protecting care, 



canto xv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 229 

Secure alike from rescue and pursuit 

With one so potent of such good repute. 

So North of Roto-iti, East away, 

And for the seaside by the Bounteous Bay, 

Though from the route direct still given to stray, 

They travel ; resting in the woods by day 

When needful, and by villages at night 

Passing with cautious speed ; and none the less 

On Ranolf 's part, with undisguised delight 

At all the shifts, suspenses, and success 

And stealthy freedom of their dexterous flight. 

in. 
And thus o'er many a mountain wood-entangled, 
And stony plain of stunted fern that hides 
The bright-green oily anise ; and hill-sides 
And valleys, where its dense luxuriance balks 
With interclinging fronds and tough red stalks 
The traveller's hard-fought path — they took their way. 
Sometimes they traversed, half the dreary day, 
A deep-glenned wilderness all dark and dank 
With trees, whence tattered and dishevelled dangled 
Pale streaming strips of mosses long and lank ; 
Where at each second step of tedious toil 
On perfect forms of fallen trunks they tread, 
And ankle-deep sink in their yielding bed — 
Moss-covered rottenness long turned to soil : — 
Until, ascending ever in the drear 
Dumb gloom forlorn, a sudden rushing sound 
Of pattering rain strikes freshly on the ear — 
'Tis but the breeze that up so high has found 
Amid the rattling leaves a free career ! 
To the soft, mighty, sea-like roar they list : — 



■$o Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xv. 

Or else 'tis calm ; the gloom itself is gone ; 

And all is airiness and light-filled mist, 

As on the open mountain-side, so lone 

And lofty, freely breathing they emerge. 

And sometimes through a league-long swamp they urge 

Slow progress, dragging through foot-sucking slush 

Their weary limbs, red-painted to the knees 

In pap rust-stained by iron or seeding rush ; 

But soon through limpid brilliant streams that travel 

With murmuring, momentary-gleaming foam 

That flits and flashes over sun-warmed gravel 

They wade, and laughing wash that unctuous loam 

Off blood-stained limbs now clean beyond all cavil 

And start refreshed new road-knots to unravel. 

And what delight, at length, that glimpse instils, 

That wedge-shaped opening in the wooded hills, 

Which, like a cup, the far-off Ocean fills ! — 

Anon they skirt the winding wild sea-shore ; 

From woody crag or ferny bluff admiring 

The dim-bright beautiful blue bloom it wore — 

That still Immensity — that placid Ocean — 

With all its thousand leagues of level calm, 

Tremendously serene ; he, fancying more 

Than feeling, for tired Spirits peace-desiring, 

With the world-fret and life's low fever sore — 

Weary and worn with turmoil and emotion — 

The soothing might of its majestic balm. 

Or to the beach descending, with joined hands 

They pace the firm tide-saturated sands 

Whitening beneath their footpress as they pass ; 

And from that fresh and tender marble floor 

So glossy-shining in the morning sun, 

Watch the broad billows at their chase untiring — 



canto x\ r .] Ranolf and AmMcu 231 

How they come rolling on, in rougher weather — 

How in long lines they swell and link together. 

Till, as their watery walls they grandly lift, 

Their level crests extending sideways, swift 

Shoot over into headlong roofs of glass 

Cylindric — thundering as they curl and run 

And close, down-rushing to a weltering dance 

Of foam that slides along the smooth expanse. 

Nor seldom, in a streaked and creamy sheet 

Comes unexpected hissing round their feet, 

While with great leaps and hurry-skurry fleet, 

His louder laughter mixed with her's so sweet, 

Each tries to stop the other's quick retreat. 

Or else on sands that, white and loose, give way 

At every step, they toil ; till labor-sped 

Their limbs in the noon-loneliness they lay 

On that hot, soft, yet unelastic bed, 

With brittle seaweed, pink and black o'erstrewn, 

And wrecks of many a forest-growth up thrown, 

Bare stem and barkless branches, clean, sea-bleached, 

Milk-white — or stringy logs deep-red as wine, 

Their ends ground smooth against a thousand rocks, 

Dead-heavy, soaked with penetrating brine ; 

Or bolted fragment of some Ship storm-breached 

And shattered— all with barnacles o'ergrown, 

Grey-crusted thick with hollow-coned small shells — 

So silent in the sunshine still and lone, 

So reticent of what it sadly tells ; 

Which Ranolf then imagines till he shocks 

Quick-sympathising Amo with a tale 

Of brave men lost, and haply lovers gone 

For ever — never heard of nor forgot ; 

And so beguiles the bright one of her tears, 



32 Ranolj and Amohia. [canto xv 

Which, while he kisses the wet cheek so pale 
He charms away, and the sweet mourner cheers, 
Hinting the contrast of their happier lot : 
Then turns to livelier sights the scene supplied ; 
And near some river-mouth — shoal — marshy-wide — 
Would mark the swarming sea-birds o'er the waste 
Tremble across the air in glimmering flocks ; 
Or how, long-legged with little steps they plied 
Their yellow webs, in such high-shouldered haste 
Pattering along the cockle-filled sandbanks, 
Some refuse dainty of the Sea to taste ; 
Or standing stupefied in huddled ranks 
Still rounded up by the advancing tide — 
White glittering squadrons on the level mud 
Dressing their lines before the enclosing flood ; 
Or what strange instinct guided them so well, 
Posed by their mollusk, up in air to start, 
And soaring, on the rocks let fall the shell 
Whose stubborn valves they could not force apart. 
And once, hard by a gloomy forest-side, 
How Amo clapped her hands in pure delight 
At Ranolf s puzzled wonder when he spied 
What seemed so surely — for 'twas clear in sight — 
Some furry three-legged thing without a head, 
Fixed to the ground — a tripod ! — how amazed 
Was he to find when serpent-like it raised 
Long neck and bill, and swiftly running fled, 
'Twas nothing but that wing-less, tail-less bird 
Boring for worms — less feathered too than furred — 
The kiwi — strange brown-speckled would-be beast, 
Which the pair hunted half the day at least, 
While needful look-out young Te Manu kept. 
Or else the lovers, tired or cautious, stepped 



canto xv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 233 

From the chalk-bouldered, pumice-crumbling strand 

On to black broken-edged o'erlapping land, 

And o'er the flax-swamped rushy level then 

Betook themselves to some inviting wood 

Just at the black-green opening of a glen 

Where mighty trunks like shadowy columns stood, 

Solemn, expectant — promising so meet 

A shelter for their day or night retreat ; 

Shore-loving vine-trees, puriri, they were 

The enormous mounds that with such swelling state 

Arose— in masses so consolidate 

And caked, the light-green foliage, here and there, 

Seemed cracking only from its very weight. 

— How free — how free it was ! nothing it seemed, 
Between themselves and God ! so Ranolf felt ; — 
That world of Man, how oft it seemed to melt 
Wholly away ! his Soul in contact brought 
W T ith Nature's nakedness, exulting teemed 
With raptures Life refined had never bought ; 
Proud vigor from her vivid touches caught ; 
And from the exhilarating hale embrace 
Drew hardier, wilder will to set at nought 
All risks — and dauntless every danger face ! — 
Yet little this was needed now — although 
Amo could not her anxious fears forego \ 
For dread of all that Priest might prompt destroyed 
Half of the pleasure she had else enjoyed. 

IV. 

Now, through some dim white days of ceaseless rain, 
They waited till the sky should clear again, 



234 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xy. 

Roofed by a hut no woodman would demur 
To call a palace for a forester. 
Amid the trees — where loftiest towering grew 
|Some spiny-leaved totdras like the yew, 
iRoot-buttressed, forty yards or so in height, — 
They — ere the mist first gathering blanched the blue, 
Though many a sign that threatened rain they knew, — 
Had built a hasty homestead snug and tight. 
Some of these trees, notch-circled near the ground, 
That for such end their bark might well be dried, 
Or trunks be seasoned for canoes, they found ; 
Their stringy coats were easily off-stripped, 
In stripes, long, broad and heavy, upward ripped ; 
These, fastened on a frame of poles flax-tied, 
Slant roof and walls against the windward side — 
Made such a pleasant dwelling in three hours 
As had withstood a month of drenching showers ; 
Thick fern and broom were fragrant floor and couch ; 
And to the sweet clean roof and walls upslung, 
Guns, shot-belt, matches, flints and powder-pouch 
And change of raiment, dry and safely hung. 

In this retreat three quiet days they passed 
In perfect shelter ; and the time flew fast, 
Though to the hut they mostly were confined, 
And spite of care that lurked in Amo's mind. 
Love wrapped in sunshine that rain-beaten bower, 
Made prisoned solitude and silence dear ; 
Her care diverted, half-assuaged her fear ; 
Surcharged e'en trivial chat with eloquent power ; 
To slight details of daily intercourse 
Gave magic sweetness and electric force ; 
Nay, lent to weeping Nature's gloomier hour 






canto xv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 235 

A gentle charm they ne'er before descried 

When bathed in brilliant light her features smiled : 

So Ranolf felt when over wood and wild 

That quiet sadness first began to creep ; 

And sheltered safe within their mountain-nook 

On his fern-pillow he could lie and look 

Past forest tree-tops surging down the steep, 

With rocks out-slanting bold, dark-red and grey — 

Through the glen's mouth, o'er yellow plains outside, 

Mixed with the skies, it seemed, so high and wide — 

Melting to misty dimness far away ; — 

Look — but to feel with more supreme content 

That luxury of loneliness profound — 

No human soul but theirs for miles around ! 

Feel how serenely, pensively forlorn 

The tender silence of the tearful Morn ; 

Of those unmoving trees as still as thought, 

And leaves imbibing in their happy sleep 

Rich greenness ever more refreshed and deep ; 

Each branch with bright drops hung that would not fall 

The faint blue haze upon the grass ; while nought 

But the slight tremble, shimmering on the shade 

So glowing dark about their stems, betrayed 

The fine soft rain's inaudible descent. 

Then, as the thickening weather with its pall 

Of gloom shut out the distant hills and sky, 

How pleasant there to lounge secure and mark 

Emerging from the mists in forests high 

Black jutting trees to shadows turn, and fade, 

Where sullen, ragged, smothering vapors weighed 

Upon the nearer summits ; or when wind 

Arose, and hurried up the storm, behind 

Their hill-protected hut and roof of bark — 



236 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xv. 

To mark each sudden, snowy, crooked skein 

With fibres opening here and there, appear 

Along the sloping hollows — all pure green 

But now — inlaid between round knolls, and seen 

White through thin clouds of level-driving rain. 

And then within their wildwood home, what cheer — 

What manifold amusements might be found ! 

What pleasure in the necessary round 

Of primitive provisions for so rude 

A life — whose mere privations still endued 

The hours that flew so fast, with fleeter wings ; 

The merry makeshifts, and the thousand things 

To tax contrivance, whence ingenious tact 

A double comfort from discomfort wrings ; 

Scant implements still put to novel use ; 

Forced partnership in many a little act 

For which e'en Love had else scarce found excuse. 

Then Ranolf had in note-book to record 

Brief hints of many an incident or word 

That might the vivid memory reproduce 

Of these bright scenes far hence when they should be 

Forgotten into freshness. Or he made 

Upon the inside smoothness of a square 

Of that stripped bark, with pistol-barrel ruled, 

Draft-chequers — clipping flat for draftsmen rare 

Hard violet drupes of the great laurel-tree 

And gold karaka-dates — and soon had schooled 

His quick companion in the game they played 

For kisses like Campaspe ! though, he said, 

Amo from Cupid had not cared to win 

Cheek-bloom — lips bow-curved — tender turn of chin — 

Hers sweeter far already ! Or he strove 

With taste, and skill — but not in like degree — 



canto xv. J Ranolf and Amohia. 237 

Still quickened, still impeded by his love — 

Sketchbook on knee, to reproduce, though slight, 

Some glimpses of the spirit-winning light 

That danced in dazzling depths of Amo's eyes — 

Some of her shape's enchanting symmetries ; 

While she, with wondering bright compliance bore 

The frequent interruptions and delay 

To the immediate work she had in hand, 

As he so oft entreated her to stay 

In that position just one moment more — 

Just to continue so to kneel or stand — 

Reach up — bend over — let him seize the charm 

Of some fine posture, planted foot, or arm 

Upraised, that any Sculptor's heart might warm. 

And truly, every instant she displayed 

A look or attitude that would have made 

A Phidias turn admiring, though intent 

On one fastidious finishing touch, the last — 

One pumice-polish, warm wax-stain, that lent 

Perfection to some wonder, now complete, 

Some marble miracle or famous feat 

Chryselephantine, all the world to beat, 

And stamp his own surpassing self surpassed — 

Though on his ears, already charmed, he felt 

Aspasia's clear Milesian accents melt 

In critic subtleties of praise that seize 

The heart of his conception, and excite 

The stoic soul of stately Pericles 

Into confest emotions of delight : 

For, as the busy Maid would oft look round 

With brows and high-upcurling lashes raised, 

And such a glance, what Ranolf wished, to ask — 

Bright glance of innocent enquiry, sweet 



238 Ranolf and Amoliia. [canto xv 

Alert attention ; or would leave her task, 

And throw herself beside him on the ground 

To see what 'twas that he would sometimes look 

Half-pleased with, proud of, in the fast-leaved book 

Where he "wrote images " — then with such heat 

Would " pish " and " pshaw" at, as on her he gazed, 

Abused the work so much — the model praised — 

There, as she watched him, toying all the while 

With those light locks she loved so, with a smile 

Where such a depth of playful fondness shone ; 

Might not her aspect then almost have fired 

Some later living Phidias of our own, 

Some Foley, with such fancies as inspired 

His Ino, feeding her maternal joy 

On purple temptings of her grape-fed boy ? 

Almost have made his great compeer conceive 

An added loveliness for listening Eve ? — 

And could wise Nature's so conspicuous Art, — 

Lavish of might divinest to unfold 

The linked glory of mere human limbs 

Which all beside of form and hue bedims, — 

If ever, fail with this susceptive heart 

And fiery Sense, in her design to raise 

That fervid admiration, uncontrolled 

And uncontrollable, she must intend 

Should ne'er be foiled for fairest moral end? — 

No ! well might that pure form, as he surveys 

Its rich proportions cast in such a mould — 

The perfect mould of Beauty, that combines 

Rare lightness with luxuriance, and displays 

What subtle joy can lurk in sinuous lines 

That in their delicate winding wavure seem 

Self-singing of their fine felicities 



canto xv.] Ranolj and AmoJiia. 239 

Like musical meanderings of a stream — 
Well might its melodies of movement thrill 
His soul with rapture — dash his baffled skill 
With blank despair — so distanced in the chase, 
The fond attempt to seize on and pourtray 
Some one perfection from the plastic play 
Of flitting statue-pictures that displace 
Each other — and successive charms efface 
In ever new varieties of grace ! 

v. 

So in the glen three days had well-nigh passed ; 

The pelting rain seemed holding up at last. 

Ranolf and Amo in their bark-built tent 

Were busy ; she, in sylvan arts adept, 

With scraps of fern drybrown from where they slept, 

And moss from underneath thick boughs, in spite 

Of damp, preparing her quick fire to light ; 

But with grave brow half-puzzled how to glean 

A savory meal from viands well-nigh spent : 

And he, in prospect of the brightening weather, 

Intent, but leisurely, with loitering mien, 

On ferreting with purple-glossed green feather — 

The wild-duck's, moistened with its searching oil — 

Into the fastenings of his rifle's lock, 

The shining intricacies rust would spoil ; 

Still pausing in his task, with banter fond 

Her over-anxious care for him to mock, 

To which, no whit disturbed, she would respond 

Her fixed conviction what to him was due ; 

Or, if a longer silence intervened 

Wondering what strange wild tameness towards him drew 

The large red-breasted robin — kinsman true 



240 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xv 

Of England's delicate highbred bird of home, — 
So fine-limbed, full of spirit ! — how 'twould come 
After a little startled flight or two 
And perch upon the very gun he cleaned. — 
'Twas then, Te Manu — who, sent off to scout, 
A cloak of perfect thatch about him thrown, 
Had fetched a wary compass wide about 
To a far village off their route — prepared 
With preconcerted tale — was seen alone 
Returning from the journey safely dared, 
O'er the dim plain — a shadow : till as near 
He drew, the triumph on his face was clear : 
Laden he came — though nought for loads he cared 
When self-imposed by fancy for good cheer — 
Cray-fish — plump pigeons in their fat preserved, 
Neat-packed in pottles of dark wood, adorned 
With carvings arabesque so quaintly curved — 
Store of that tiny fish like whitebait, dried 
In sunshine on hot stones — with scraps beside 
Of native dainties nowise to be scorned ; — 
And when his shoulders from the pack were freed, 
With joyous face he told them news indeed : 
How he had met a traveller newly come 
From Rotorua, and from him had learnt the sum 
Of all that there had happened ; how at first 
When missing Amohia's clothes were found 
Upon the shore, all had believed her drowned : 
Then what a wailing had ensued — a burst 
Of genuine grief — no counterfeiting show — 
What gashing of the breast with shells, and flow 
Of blood had marked the matrons' gory woe ; 
How Tangimoana had torn his hair 
And curst his gods in frenzy of despair, 



canto xv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 241 

And raved against the Priest whose scheming greed 
His own too ready confidence had wronged, 
And driven his darling to the desperate deed — 
(From Miroa was that certain fact derived) ; 
Then what a coolness rose between the two : 
And how when Ranolf's absence so prolonged, 
Begun that very day, had roused more true 
Suspicions, fresh inquiry set on foot 
Led to the knowledge that the pair had been 
By accident upon their journey seen : 
And then the Priest so hotly urged pursuit 
His obvious spite provoked a new dispute ; 
For Tangi's heart such great revulsion swelled 
Of rapture that his dearest Child survived, 
It found no room for thoughts of hate and rage, 
And all the vengeful Priest's advice repelled 
Almost with scorn ; whereat the other turned 
Livid with sulky wrath that inly burned, 
And no amends of Tangi's could assuage ; 
At which all wondered ; (here in Amo's breast 
An undivulged remembrance more than guessed 
The jealous fury that his heart possessed :) 
And how the Priest soon from the Island went, 
None knew when, whither, or with what intent — 
Went mutely maddening with his fancied wrong 
Though muttering vengeance and return erelong ; 
At which in hardy confidence so strong 
Stout Tangi only laughed ; and longed to see 
His hoary age's pride again, and press 
Her brow against his own in fond caress ; 
Yearned for her home — companioned should she be 
By husband, fair or tawny — what cared he ! — 

16 



242 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xv. 



VI. 

' But what of Miroa ?' Amo asked — ' her friend ?'- 
Ah ! there too he had tidings somewhat strange, 
He answered, with a shrewd and prying glance 
Eyeing the beauteous questioner askance : 
" O'er Miroa there had come a curious change 
Since Amo left, which none could comprehend 
At first ; for she — that merry maid — had grown 
Sad, absent, sullen-seeming ; given up all 
Her favourite haunts and friends to muse alone ; 
Thrown all the sports and frolic games aside 
Of which she was the leader, life, and pride ; 
The lively matches with the dangling ball 
Struck at each other by the seated band ; 
The hunted pebble passed from hand to hand ; 
1 Kdhu ' the ' hawk ' of rushes she could weave 
And coax with scarce-seen string to soar so high 
That all the children said it must deceive 
The living hawks they saw beside it fly ; 
The ^&z-dances where she shone supreme, 
For gayer postures who could shape or dream ? 
With half her archness give each new grimace 
Or shake the quivering hands with saucier grace ? 
The skipping-rope she never had to hold, 
For who could ever trip her nimble feet ? 
Maui, the string she could dispart and fold 
With dextrous fingers into forms complete 
Of all things 'twas your fancy to behold — 
Canoes, men, houses, wonders new and old — 
Great Mother Night producing all her train 
Of Gods — or cutting with swift snap in twain 






canto xv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 1 

Even Maui's self — inventor of the game, 
For daring to invade that darksome dame : 
All these poor Miroa had discarded now 
And moped and slunk about with moody brow. 

" Well, all believed it was for Amo's loss 

The shadow lay upon the damsel's heart ; 

Till recently they saw her one fine day 

Alert and brisk, preparing for a start, 

It seemed, to visit some one far away : 

For she was with a studied neatness drest, 

Her curling locks smoothed to their brightest gloss — 

And striving spite of grief to look her best ; 

A light food-kit was o'er her shoulders slung : — 

When questioned, she declared she meant to make 

Her way to Roto Aira's distant Lake, 

Where welcome she could always find among 

Near relatives that loved her ; and you know 

Where'er she pleased the Maid could always go — 

For who would check her movements — interfere 

With one that Amohia held so dear ? 

But she by accident was overheard 

That morning when she thought none near her stirred, 

Plaintively crooning o'er an artless song 

(While to and fro her form impatient swayed), 

That told what secret on her spirit weighed ; 

The more, that from her bosom she was seen 

To draw some finery — woven flowers or braid — 

That there it seemed she must have cherished long, 

And press them to her brow with passionate mien 

And many tears — redoubled as she gazed 

Awhile upon these tokens of desire 

How vain ! then flung theni on her matin fire : 



244 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xv. 

But when they quickly shrivelled up and blazed, 
Gone like her dream for ever ! she arose 
Passing her slender hands with gesture swift 
Across her brows and sweeping back the drift 
Of streaming tresses, as she waved her head 
And tossed her arms out wearily once — like those 
Who brush aside a troublous dream : — so she 
Seemed in that act to shake herself quite free 
From that entangling coil of memory. 
Then started on her journey as I said. 
But these proceedings and the song combined, 
And most that wreath — the withered flowery string, 
Red feathers from the parrot's under-wing, 
And scarlet band — that shining foreign thing — 
Told them 'twas for the Stranger that she pined." 

Scarce had the word been uttered, ere with eyes 
That flashed a sudden fire, fair Arao threw 
Her arm round Ranolf as if danger near 
Were threatening to despoil her of her prize, 
Her heart's whole treasure — then withdrew it too 
As swiftly — blushing at her foolish fear, 
And asked, her bright confusion to disguise, 
More than from any wish the lay to hear, 
What song it was made Miroa's love so clear ? — 
" ' E tangi — e — te ihu* — what comes next 
I'm sure I quite forget, although I heard ; 
At waiatas * I always was a dunce. 
'Twas all about a girl or some one — vexed 
At scandal — full of wants and whims absurd.' 
But Amo recognised the words at once, 



Waiatas — Son^s. 



canto xv/] Ranolf and Amohia. ~ 245 

And knew the song of course ; and at request 
Of Ranolf, with an accent that expressed 
Compassion mixed with somewhat of disdain, 
Recited in sweet tones the childish strain, 
Whose meaning this loose version may explain : 



" Alas, and well-a-day ! they are talking of me still : 
By the tingling of my nostril, I fear they are talking ill ; 
Poor hapless I — poor little I — so many mouths to fill 
And all for this strange feeling, O this sad sweet pain 



2. 

senseless heart — O simple ! to yearn so and to pine 
For one so far above me, confest o'er all to shine — 
For one a hundred dote upon, who never can be mine ! 

O 'tis a foolish feeling — all this fond sweet pain ! 

3- 

When I was quite a child — not so many moons ago — 
A happy little maiden — O then it was not so ; 
Like a sunny-dancing wavelet then I sparkled to and fro ; 
And I never had this feeling, O this sad sweet pain ! 

4- 

1 think it must be owing to the idle life I lead 

In the dreamy house for ever that this new bosom- weed 
Has sprouted up and spread its shoots till it troubles me 
indeed 
With a restless weary feeling — such a sad sweet pain ! 



246 Ranolf and A mohia. [canto xv, 



5- 

So in this pleasant islet, O no longer will I stay — 
And the shadowy summer-dwelling, I will leave this very day; 
On Arapa I'll launch my skiff and soon be borne away 
From all that feeds this feeling, O this fond sweet pain ! 

6. 
I'll go and see dear Rima — she'll welcome me I know, 
And a flaxen cloak, her gayest — o'er my weary shoulders 

throw, 
With purfle red and points so free — O quite a lovely show — 
To charm away this feeling — O this sad sweet pain ! 

7- 

Two feathers I will borrow, and so gracefully I'll wear, 

Two feathers soft and snowy for my long black lustrous hair ; 

Of the Albatross's down they'll be — O how charming they'll 

look there — 

All to chase away this feeling — O this fond sweet pain ! 



Then the lads will flock around me with flattering talk all 

day — 
And with anxious little pinches sly hints of love convey ; 
And I shall blush with happy pride to hear them .... I 

daresay . . . 
And quite forget this feeling, O this sad sweet pain ! " 

VII. 

So with much grief for Miroa's fond distress, 
The pair recalled full many a sign that might 
Have helped them read her simple heart aright, 



canto xv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 247 

Had both not been too much pre-occupied 

With fancies of their own at hers to guess : 

And they remembered with what eyes — how wide — 

Of eager wondering gladness she had seemed 

To feed and fasten on all Ranolf 's ways 

And looks and movements, when, those two first days, 

They met at Rotorua ; how they beamed 

When with such giggling blushes of delight 

She bent her head as carelessly he tied 

The ribbon round it he declared less fair 

And tasteful than the wreath already there, 

Of crimson feathers and the snowy rays 

Of clematis — while all might see she deemed 

The present of less value than the praise. 

And then it flashed on Amo's mind, as sped 

Her memory back, with such a cue supplied, 

How artfully and oft the Maid would guide 

Their talk the way that to the Stranger led ; 

And when that theme was reached, how glibly ran 

Her tongue, unceasing when it once began 

In Ranolf 's favour mostly, or would raise 

Some point against him — find some fault — aver 

Some blemish — that she, Amo, might demur 

More warmly — more unguardedly be brought 

To sound his dear deserts for whom she fought, 

And his light-jesting enemy upbraid : 

All which the unsuspecting Amo thought 

She did to humour, not herself but her — 

The foolish Mistress : not the foolish Maid ; 

(With an arch glance at Ranolf this was said) 

And then she recollected once, when turning 

Suddenly, with what surprise she caught 

Poor Miroa's bloodshot eyes fixed on her, burning 



248 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xv 

With envy, almost hate ; with what swift check 

She changed that look to one of passionate yearning, 

And wildly flung her arms round Amo's neck 

And burst into a flood of tears, and cried : 

" My good, good Mistress — O how good and kind 

And always dear — O do not mark or mind 

The passion of your worthless slave — too bad 

For such a mistress — O too false and mad ! 

Kill, kill me if you will — you should — you may — 

But tear this blackness from my breast away ! " — 

" And then she lavished on me little acts 

Of kindness and attention all that day. 

And I, still blind to these so patent facts, 

Thought 'twas the memory of her home afar 

And friends, from whom long years ago in war 

She had been torn, a captive, that oppressed 

Her fancy then, with fond regrets distressed ; 

Although I rather wondered she was moved 

By that so deeply — scarcely could ascribe 

Such passion to such cause ; for she had known 

Nothing but kindness, since, so terrified 

That day she came she shuffled to my side, 

And I scarce older, set her numbed limbs free 

From bonds, and said she should belong to me. 

But since that day so merry had she grown — 

She, sprung too from a chief of good degree — 

That all our people looked upon and loved 

The Child as a true daughter of the tribe, 

I always as a sister of my own." 

VIII. 

Well, so they grieved for Miroa : yet no less 
Perhaps, and shall we blame her if 'twere so ? 



canto xv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 249 

This very feeling for poor Miroa's woe, 

Though Amo's love for her was true indeed, 

In her unconscious heart could not but breed 

A secret feeling she would not confess 

Of greater joy in her own happiness. 

And cheering up, she said — " You may depend 

On this — from what Te Manu says, our friend 

Has overcome and shaken off her pain ; 

That song would tell it — but still more the power 

To burn the keepsake — what was it ? the flower 

Or ribbon you bestowed in luckless hour. 

And she has lovers, O in plenty — she ! 

And there was one on whom she always smiled, 

I thought ; a lad who lives or I mistake, 

A fine good lad, beside that very Lake 

And near the friends she must have gone to see ; 

She will be happy soon — dear merry Child ! 

Though how she could get o'er such love " — the rest 

Was hidden with her face on Ranolf 's breast. 

IX. 

Then, as they marked the sky still growing bright ; 
The distant mountains visible once more, 
Black-blue, with smothering fleeces flattened o'er 
\ Their ridges — sprawling harpies snowy white 

With claws that clutched their summits hid from sight ; 

Or like a sudden foam-sea, o'er each brow 

Arrested in its branching overflow ; 

The pair made ready for a happier start, 

Free to obey each prompting of the heart, 

Go where they list — all apprehension flown — 

And give themselves to Love and Joy alone. 



250 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvi. 



CANTO THE SIXTEENTH. 

1. 
A King — a God— a little Child 
Your happy Lover is ; a Saint 
With all the Eternal Powers at one — 
Serene — confiding — reconciled : 
He thinks no ill — believes in none ; 
There is for him no sin, no taint, 
No room for doubt, disgust, complaint, 
Misgiving or despondence faint : 
Life's mystery flies, her secret won, 
Like morning frost before the sun ; 
How should its cobweb ties arrest 
The triumph of his bounding breast ! 
How should he feel, with actual heaven 
In measureless fruition given, 
The mounting spirit's mortal load ? 
Feel, steeped in empyrean day 
And rapture without stint bestowed, 
The Mind too big for its abode, 
The Soul's discomfort in its clay ? 
Why look to some seraphic sphere 
For light, for love, so lavish here ? 
In this our gorgeous Paradise 
Why bend to grief — why stoop to vice — 



canto xvi. J Ranolf and Amohia. 251 

Ah why distrest and sorrow-prest — 

Why not be right and brave and blest ? 

How easy, in a world so bright 

To be, to live, blest, brave and right ! — 

He breathes Elysium — walks on wings ; 

His own unbounded bliss he flings 

O'er all deformed, unhappy things : 
' Transfigured are they — glorified ; 

Or vanish and cannot abide 

The flood of splendor, the full tide 

Of joy that from his heart so wide 

Wells over all the world beside. 
O Melodist unequalled — Pride 
Of Nature's self-taught songsters he ! 
Inspired — unconscious — mute too soon — 
Who sets and sings his lyric Life-song free 
To glad Creation's high triumphant tune ! 



So for herself and most for her beloved 
All anxious cares and fears removed, 
So upon Amohia now, unclouded beams — 
In rounded fulness of possession streams 

Once more, the dream of dreams — 

The dear divine delirium ! say 

Once to all by fate allowed ; 

Though from its shy crescent small, 

That finest silver eyelash, fall 

Only its earliest rising ray — 
Clothing them ever with a luminous cloud 

Wherein they may a sweet while stray, 

In the thronging whisper-play 

Of Angel-wings, on life's highway, 

Monomaniacs, in the charge 



252 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvi. 

Of Beauty — blissfully at large 
'Mid the sadly saner crowd. 



— But we pause — we pale before it, 
Fairest reader — that soft splendor ! 
And your pardon we implore it, 
If in sight of scene so tender 
Heart and voice we haply harden, 
And with faltering step pass o'er it, 
That sequestered Eden-garden ; 
Painting in evasive fashion 
Two young lovers, wildly loving, 
Through a lovely region roving, 
Free as Nature — free as birds are, 
Free as infants' thoughts and words are ! 
Ah ! too rich for our rude treating, 
Too exalted for our story 
That intense absorbing passion — 
That fine fever of young Love ; 
Which though cheating, swiftly fleeting, 
Oft it seem to mock and flout us, 
Comes, so innocent, undesigning, 
Comes into our darkness shining, 
Comes and wraps the mystic glory 
Of the golden Heavens about us ! 
And though pining or declining, 
Buried — pent here — without vent here — 
Lone — a stranger, wild, erratic ; 
Soon returning to the burning 
Blisses of its home above — 
Leaves a bud elsewhere to blossom, 
Leaves a light in every bosom ; — 
Just revealing ere off-stealing, 



canto xvi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 253 

One brief glimpse of soul-enjoyment, 

To endure a memory sure — 

Pure— a secret life-refiner 

And great lure to realms diviner, 

Where abandonment ecstatic 

To the infinite of feeling — 

Loftier love than aught existent, 

Ever by indulgence growing 

Deeper, fonder, and more glowing — 

Tide at flooding still new flowing, 

Flower fresh-budding while full-blowing — 

Is consistent — is persistent, 

Is our normal, true employment ! 

11. 
Amo and Ranolf slowly journeying home, 
Had to a pleasant place for camping come 
Inside a glorious forest ; and although 
The atmosphere was still aglow 
With heat — the Sun still shining high, 
Resolved that day they would no further go : 
Why should they haste — what seek or fly ? 
Each rocky niche or woody nook 
Of most retired romantic look, 
There they could make their home, their rest, 
And choose next day as fair a nest : — 
'Twas such a joy to journey so, 
How could their journey be too slow ! 
So long as .not compelled to sever, 
They cared not should it last for ever. 

The youth, with hands beneath his head, 
Against a great titbki's base, 



254 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvi. 

Where, less compact and tangled, spread 
The underbrush a little space, 
Lay watching, now the forest scene, 
Now Amo, as with accents gay 
And lovely looks and lively mien, 
Directions to the lad she gave 
How best and where the stones to lay 
When heated well — and neatly pave 
The little hollow cleared away 
To make his oven in, and cook- 
In leaves close-folded, lightly sprinkled 
With water from the fretting brook 
O'er rocky bed that near them tinkled — 
The savory palm-tree's pithy heart, 
By Ranolf just cut down — but not, 
Be sure, without a little smart — 
(Though many grew about the spot) 
Some slight compunction, for a meal 
To strike with his destructive steel, 

| A thing so fair, a woodland treasure 
You could not look at without pleasure ; 
A slim smooth pillar, ribbed and round, 
With drooping crimson chaplet crowned ; 

I O'er that, erect, symmetric, chaste, 
A green Greek vase of perfect taste, 
With narrow neck and swelling side, 
Smooth-shining, sinuous ; whence in pride 
Of beauty issued, spreading wide, 
A fan-like tuft of feathers free — 
All in artistic harmony ! 

| Nor this alone employed the lad ; 
Intent upon a forest feast, 
A more attractive task he had — 



CANTO XVI.] 



Ranolf and Amohia. 



255 



To raise and fix his three forked sticks, 

The little iron pot to sling 

He would on that excursion bring : 

Its use, of all the white man's ways 

Had won his most decided praise ; 

In Ranolf s service he at least 

Had learnt what pleasant things were made 

With its inestimable aid ; 

And now with ducks and pigeons shot 

By Ranolf, he designed a stew, 

Should all his former stews outdo, 

Since he had shared a traveller's lot. 



in. 
But watching thus the wood, or these, 
As Ranolf lay, his facile eye 
Ran o'er the shapes of plants and trees 
Exuberant round him, known or new ; 
And while once more, as oft before, 
He marked with pleasure deep and true, 
What varied charms in form and hue 
Dear Nature's forest-children wore, 
It so did chance his curious glance 
Fell on a slender shrub hard by, 
All trace-work of transparent gold, 
Or gold and emerald blended — neither, 
Yet far more beautiful than either ! 
Against a ground of shadow, black 
And soft as velvet, at its back — 
So delicately pencilled in green splendor, 
Stem branch and twig and leaflet tender 
So saturate with sunshine, such a flood 
Of light — the exquisite creation stood ! — 



256 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvi. 

Then out at once at that sweet sight, 
Outbroke in words his pure delight 
And admiration uncontrolled : 

" O the ineffable loveliness 

Of the green works of God ! — how strange 

Their perfect power to mock each one some dress 

Our many-masquing Spirits wear; 
Mute, yet expert, like Music, to express 
In forms as it in sounds what mood soe'er 
The Soul may take through feeling's varied range ! 
Look at that star-crowned beauty how she stoops, 
With what meek pride her plumy crest is bent ! 
See that fair wanton's figure forward leant 
With open arms and every spreading spray 
In trustful, loving, frank abandoment ; 
What shrinking tenderness does one display, 
Another languidly despondent droops ! 
Here, some advanced in bold defiance stand, 
While others crouch in shy reserve behind ; 
There innocent grace, or full contentment bland, 
Or swelling pomp their fit exponents find : 
And see ! how that dismantled forest-king 
Does his contorted silver branches fling, 

All bare to heaven, in wild despair, 
Or writhing agony of speechless prayer ! 
Surely some Spirit kindred to our own 
Must lurk within these woodland shapes, unknown 
Since every image they excite in us, 
With feelings so like ours is coupled thus ; 
Why Soul's effects on forms should they so well 
Exhibit, if no Soul within them dwell ? — 
But O their rich luxuriance ! what a load 



canto xvi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 257 

That sturdy giant lifts in air ! 
His mighty arms are strong and broad, 
But all with alien growths are furred, 

A shaggy hide of creepers rare ; 
Their forks are all blocked up and blurred 
With tufts of clogging parasites 
That crowd till not a spot left bare 

Might offer footing for a bird ! — 

And such her boundless vigour, see, 

Above, below, and everywhere, 

Exulting Nature so delights, 

So riots in profusion, she 

Twice over does her work for glee ! 
A tangled intricacy first she weaves, 
Under and upper growth of bush and tree 
In rampant wrestle for ascendancy ; 
Then round it all a richer overflow 

Of reckless vegetation flings, 
That here, close-moulding on the shrubs below 

A matted coat of delicate leaves, 
Mantles the muffled life whereon it clings 

Into a solid mass of greenery ; 
There, mounting to the tree-tops, down again 
Comes wildly wantoning in a perfect rain 
Of trailers — self-encircling living strings 
Unravellable ! see how all about 
The hundred-stranded creeper-cordage swings ! 

And when the breeze, so loud without, 
Now tamed and awe-struck, gliding in, has found 

Amid the stately trees a stealthy way — 
How gently to-and-fro just o'er the ground 
The low-depending woody ringlets sway, 
Like panting creatures on the watch for play ! " 



258 



Ranolf and Amohia. 



[canto xvi. 



IV. 

" Why, Rano," with her cheerful smile 
Said Amo, at her wifely tasks the while ; 
" If you were Tane's self indeed, 
The Atua and the Father of the trees, 
You could not of their ways take greater heed. 1 

The fancy seemed his mood to please : 
" Hurrah ! " he cried, and following her lead 
Went on, as with mock-solemn triumph fired, 
Half to himself, and half to her, as whim 
To speech or thought unspoken guided him, 
To dally with the notion she inspired : 



" I am Tane— the Tree-God ! 
Mine are forests not a few — 
Forests, and I love them greatly, 
Moss-encrusted, ancient, stately — 
Lusty, lightly-clad, and new. 
Mottled lights and chequered changes, 
Mid all these my roam and range is ; 
Shadowy aisle and avenue ; 
Creeper-girdled column too : 
In the mystic mid-day night, 
Many-mullioned openings bright ; 
Solemn tracery far aloof 
Letting trefoiled radiance through ! 
Many a splintered sun-shaft leaning 
Staff-like straight against the roof 
Of black alcoves, overspread, 



canto xvi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 259 

Arched, with foliage — intervening, 
Layer on layer in verdurous heaps, — 
'Twixt that blackness and the sun ; 
With a tiny gap, but one, 
Light-admitting ; brilliance-proof, 
Day-defying, all unriven 
Elsewhere — all beside orTscreening 
Of the grand wide glow of Heaven ! 
Or, where thinner the green woof 
Veils the vault of outer blue, 
Many a branch that upward creeps, 
Wandering darkly overhead 
Under luminous leafy deeps, 
Which an emerald splendour steeps, 
From the noon that o'er them sleeps ! — 

O I tend them, love, defend them, 

And all kindly influence lend them ; 

For my worship all are suited, 

If, but, in the firm earth rooted, 

By the living air recruited, 
They, ere it grow withered, dull — 
Their green mantle beautiful, 
Still repair, revive, renew." 



(Then to himself, more musingly :) 

" Many 1 creeds ', and sects and churches, — hopeful each its own 
way going; 

Bigots , sceptics, saints and sinners— precious to the Power all- 
knowing. 

So they keep absorbing ever more of Truth, the ever-growing" 



260 



Ranolf and Amohia. 



[canto xvi. 



(This, by the way, because he could not smother 

That inveterate tendency 
To find in all things symbols of each other.) 



" I am Tane — the Tree-God ! 

My sons are a million ; 

In every region, 

Their name it is legion ; 
And they build a pavilion 

My glory to bold. 
Which shall my favourites be ? 
Which are most pleasing to me, 
Of their shapes and their qualities manifold ?- 
The gigantic parasite-myrtle 
That over its victims piles up 
Great domes of pure vermilion 
Filling the black defiles up : 
The King-Pine that grandly towers : — 
The fuschia-tree with its flowers, 
Poor rustics that timidly ape 
Their sisters of daintier shape 
With their delicate bells downhung, 
And their waxen filaments flung 
So jauntily out in the air, 
Like girls in short crimson kirtle 
That spins in the wind as they whirl 
A-tiptoe one pointed foot, 
And one horizontal outshoot : — 
The clematis-garlands that curl 
And their graceful wreaths unfurl 
From many a monstrous withe ; 
Snowy-starred serpents and lithe 



canto xvi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 261 

That in subtle contortions writhe, 



Till Fancy could almost declare 
That great Ophiucus, down-hurled 
From his throne in the skiey star-world, 
Had been caught with his glittering gems 
'Mid those giant entangling stems 
Which he deemed but a dwarfish copse, 
So was struggling and surging in vain 
To rear his vast coils o'er their tops 
And his gleaming lair regain ! — 
Then the limber-limbed tree that will shower its 
Corollas — a saffrony sleet, 
Till Taupo's soft sappharine face is 
Illumined for wonderful spaces 
With a matting of floating flowerets — 
Drift-bloom and a watersward meet 
For a watersprite's fairy feet ; 
'Tis the kowhai, that spendthrift so golden : 
But its kinsman to Nature beholden 
For raiment its beauty to fold in 
Deep-dyed as of trogon or lory, 
How with parrot-bill fringes 'tis burning, 
One blood-red mound of glory ! 
Then the pallid eurybia turning 
The vernal hill-slopes hoary 
With its feathers so faintly sweet 
And its under-leaves white as a sheet ; — 

All of them, all— both the lofty and lowly, 

Equally love I and wholly ; 
So that each take form and feature 
After its genuine law and nature. 

Its true and peculiar plan ; 
So that each, with live sap flowing, 



262 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvi. 

Keep on growing, upward growing, 
As high from the earth as it can ! 



" Many creatures — varied features — dark and bright still 

onward moving; 
Tyrants — tumblers — boors and beauties, kings and clowns alike 

approving, 
To them all the Gods are gracious — to them all the Gods are 

loving. 



3- 

" I am Tane the Tree-God. 

What will you bring to me ? 
Fruits of all kinds will I take 

So ripe, true fruits they be ! 
Melting pulp — juicy flake — 

Sweet kernel or bitter 
None are better — none fitter — 

All are grateful to me. 
But your shell with no lining 
Though splendidly shining; 
But your husk with a varnish 
That nought seems to tarnish — 

If any of these I espy, 

Empty and hard and dry, 
That serve but for clamour and clatter 

Or the genuine fruit to belie ; 
These cheats will I shiver and shatter 
And their fragments scornfully scatter, 

O none of them bring to me ! 



canto xvi.] Ranolf and AmoJiia. 263 

" Pains a?id passions — deeds and duties — virtues, vices— gifts 

and graces — 
Have not all, their value, uses — in their various fitting places — 
So they be not false pretences, mocking masks for natural 

faces ? — 

" There, my sweet one, that is what, 
Were I Tane (which, thank God, I'm not, 
Seeing mine's a happier lot) 
That is about what I should say, 
Had I my own, my wondrous way." 

v. 
And Amo coming to his side amused, 
Her smiling eyes with tender love suffused, 
" How fond, O Rano mine," said she, 
" Of these dumb things you seem to be ; 
I shall be jealous soon, I think, 
And wish myself a Tree ! " 

" A tree, my Amo ! but I wonder which ? 
O which so fair that we might link 

Such loveliness in fancy with its form ? 

Which should be haven for a heart so warm, 
So sweet a Spirit's dwelling-place ? 

The Rata-myrtle for its bloom so rich — 
Or Tree-fern for its perfect grace ? 
Its slender stem I would embrace 
How fondly ! — nay, but that would never do — 
That limbless tree-fern never should be you 
With nothing but a stem and plumy crest ! 
Ah no ! the glorious Rata-tree were best, 
With blooming arms that spread around — above ; 



264 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvi. 

That should be you, my sole delight, 

My darling bliss ! that so I might 
Embosomed in embowering beauty rest, 
And nestle in the branches of my love ! " 

" Nay — but I would not be," said Amo — " I, 
That Rata — if the change I had to try ; 
Rather the snowy Clematis, to twine 
About the tree I loved ; or rather yet 
That creeper Fern, with little roots so fine 
Along its running cords, it seems to get 
For its gay leaves with golden spots beset, 
Its dearest nurture from the bark whereto 
It clings so close ; as if its life it drew, 
Drew all its loving life from that alone — 
As I from thee, Ranoro, all my own ! " 
She paused a tender moment — then resumed : 
" Nay, not the Rata ! howsoe'er it bloomed, 
Paling the crimson sunset ; for you know, 
Its twining arms and shoots together grow 
Around the trunk it clasps, conjoining slow 
Till they become consolidate, and show 
An ever-thickening sheath that kills at last 
; The helpless tree round which it clings so fast. 
Rather, O how much rather than destroy 
The thing I loved, the source of all my joy, 
Would I, my Rano, share the piteous fate 
The Rata's poor companion must await — 
Were you the clasper, I the tree that died, 
That you might flourish in fall strength and pride ! " 

" Nay — nay — my Amo ! were't to be my doom 
To clasp you till you perished in your bloom, 



canto xvi.] Ranolf and Amokia. 26 

Neither to misery should be left behind — 
Together would we be to death consigned — 
In death, as all through life, in love entwined. 
But now, my lovely Clematis, be gay ! — 
Though never shall I see that Rata bright, 
In murderous fondness, fastening round its prey 
The serpent-folds that hug the friend they slay, 
Without a sigh for the poor victim's plight ; 
Without a wish to cut and cleave away 
The monster throttling what has been his stay ; 
Without some wonder why the Power divine 
Includes such pictures in his world's design, 
\ And even in lovely vegetable life 
Leaves startling models of unnatural strife," 



VI. 

Thus they two in their dream. But Evening now 
Steals, like a serious thought o'er joyous face, 
Its cooling veil o'er the warm Earth to throw. 
The hawk no longer soars in pride of place, 
Stiff-wheeling with bent head in circles slow ; 
The teal and wild-duck leave the floating weed 
And open pool, for sheltering rush and reed ; 
And home with outstretched necks the cormorants fly 
In strings — each train dark-lettering the sky, ' 
Now V exact, now lengthening into Y — 
As arrow-like direct their course they steer 
To haunts afar, unseen, but somewhere near 
Those mountain-summits carpeted and black 
With forests dense without a break or track, 
Whence smooth and ferny spurs in golden dun 
Of solemn sunlight undulating run 



266 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvi. 

Down to dim bases lost in shadows blue 
That blot the intervening gullies too — 
Encroaching darkness creeping upward still 
O'er chequered black-and-gold of dell and hill. 

" How pleasant is the life those birds must lead — 
About the sea all day to sport and feed, 

Where'er they will, with little heed ; 
And flee away at night with aim so sure 
Striking across the sky, so eager each 
His inaccessible far roost to reach — 
So secret, solitary and secure 
In solitude. And is not ours like theirs — 
As free, as lonely sweet, as void of cares ! " 
Said Ranolf, as beside him closer drew 
Fair Amo : " Yes, my wildwood dove, 
What have we else to do but live and love ! " — 
And she, her native tongue, no doubt, too weak 
The fond delight that filled her heart to speak, 
Replied in one more rich, she felt, though new, 
That foreign language of a fervid kiss ; 
Shaping her smiling lips as if they might 
Unlearnedly perform the mystic rite, 
Some feature of its due observance miss. 
" But see," she hints, " Te Manu comes to say 
The Mkupas* are done he takes such pride 
In cooking." — As she spoke the youngster gay 
Came running up and grinning cried': 
" Ranoro, come ! come, Amo, quickly — do! 
Ka rawe ! 'tis a glorious stew ! " 



* Kukupas (coo-coo-pas) —wood-pigeons. 



CANTO XVII. 



Ranolf and Amohia. 267 



CANTO THE SEVENTEENTH. 



" How beautiful! how wonderful ! how strange!" — 

Such words, less thought than mere emotion, well 

Might Ranolf with abated breath, in tone 

That wonder-stricken to a whisper fell, 

For Arao's looks of triumph now exchange : 

So fair a vision charmed our loiterers lone, 

As at the closing of a sultry day, 

In search of some good camping-ground 

They paddled, up Mahana's Lake, 

A small canoe by chance they found 

(And Amo settled they might take) 

With little care half-hid in sedge 

Flax-fastened to the water's edge — 

Its owners clearly far away. 

From the low sky-line of the hilly range 
Before them, sweeping down its dark-green face 
Into the lake that slumbered at its base, 

A mighty Cataract — so it seemed — 
Over a hundred steps of marble streamed 



2-6S Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvir. 

And gushed, or fell in dripping overflow — 

Flat steps, in flights half-circled — row o'er row, 

Irregularly mingling side by side ; 

They and the torrent-curtain wide, 

All rosy-hued, it seemed, with sunset's glow. — 

— But what is this ! — no roar, no sound, 

Disturbs that torrent's hush profound ! 

The wanderers near and nearer come — 

Still is the mighty Cataract dumb ! 

A thousand fairy lights may shimmer 

With tender sheen, with glossy glimmer, 

O'er curve advanced and salient edge 

Of many a luminous water-ledge ; 

A thousand slanting shadows pale 

May fling their thin transparent veil 

O'er deep recess and shallow dent 

In many a watery stair's descent : 

Yet, mellow-bright, or mildly dim, 

Both lights and shades — both dent and rim — 

Each wavy streak, each warm snow-tress — 

Stand rigid, mute and motionless ! 

No faintest murmur — not a sound — 

Relieves that Cataract's hush profound ; 

No tiniest bubble, not a flake 

Of floating foam is seen to break 

The smoothness where it meets the Lake : 

Along that shining surface move 

No ripples ; not the slightest swell 

Rolls o'er the mirror darkly green, 

Where, every feature limned so well — 

Pale, silent, and serene as death — 

The cataract's image hangs beneath 

The cataract — but not more serene, 



canto xvii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 

More phantom-silent than is seen 
The white rose-hued reality above. 

They paddle past --for on the right 
Another Cataract comes in sight ; 
Another broader, grander flight 
Of steps — all stainless, snowy-bright ! 
They land — their curious way they track 
Near thickets made by contrast black ; 
And then that wonder seems to be 
A Cataract carved in Parian stone, 
Or any purer substance known — 
Agate or milk-chalcedony ! 
Its showering snow-cascades appear 
Long ranges bright of stalactite, 
And sparry frets and fringes white, 
Thick-falling, plenteous, tier o'er tier ; 
Its crowding stairs, in bold ascent 
Piled up that silvery-glimmering height, 
Are layers, they know — accretions slow 
Of hard silicious sediment : 
For as they gain a rugged road, 
And cautious climb the solid rime, 
Each step becomes a terrace broad — 
Each terrace a wide basin brimmed 
With water, brilliant, yet in hue 
The tenderest delicate harebell-blue 
Deepening to violet ! Slowly climb 
The twain, and turn from time to time 
To mark the hundred baths in view — 
Crystalline azure, snowy-rimmed — 
The marge of every beauteous pond 
Curve after curve — each lower beyond 



270 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvii. 

The higher — outsweeping white and wide, 
Like snowy lines of foam that glide 
O'er level seasands lightly skimmed 
By thin sheets of the glistening tide. 

They climb those milk-white flats incrusted 
And netted o'er with wavy ropes 
Of wrinkled silica. At last — 
Each basin's heat increasing fast — 
The topmost step the pair surmount, 
And lo, the cause of all ! Around, 
The circling cliffs a crater bound — 
Cliffs damp with dark-green moss — their slopes 
All crimson-stained with blots and streaks — 
White-mottled and vermilion-rusted ; 
And in the midst, beneath a cloud 
That ever upward rolls and reeks 
And hides the sky with its dim shroud, 
Look where upshoots a fuming fount — 
Up through a blue and boiling pool 
Perennial — a great sapphire steaming, 
In that coralline crater gleaming. 
Upwelling ever, amethystal, 
Ebullient comes the bubbling crystal ! 
Still growing cooler and more cool 
As down the porcelain stairway slips 
The fluid flint, and slowly drips, 
And hangs each basin's curling lips 
With crusted fringe each year increases, 
Thicker than shear-forgotten fleeces ; 
More close and regular than rows, 
Long rows of snowy trumpet-flowers 
Some day to hang in garden-bowers, 
When strangers shall these wilds enclose. 



canto xvii. J Ranolf and Amohia. 271 



But see ! in all that lively spread 
Of blue and white and vermeil red, 
How dark with growths of greenest gloss, 
Just at the edge of that first ledge, 
A little rocky islet peeps 
Into the crater-caldron's deeps. 
Along the ledge they lightly cross, 
And from that place of vantage gaze 
O'er all the scene — and every phase 
The current takes as down it strays : 
They note where'er, by step or stair, 
By brimming bath, on hollow reef 
Or hoary plain, its magic rain 
Can reach a branch, a flower, a leaf — 
The branching spray, leaf, blossom gay, 
Are blanched and stiffened into stone ! 
So round about lurks tracery strewn 
Of daintiest-moulded porcelain-ware, 
Or coral wreaths and clusters rare, 
A white flint-foliage ! — rather say 
Such fairy-work as frost alone 
Were equal to, could it o'erlay 
With tender crust of crystals fair, — 
Fine spikes so delicately piled — 
Not wintry trees, leafstripped and bare, 
But summer's vegetation, rich and wild. 

11. 

But while all this they watch, lo, still and grand, 
The enormous Moon ! — how, like 
A great gold cymbal on its edge upright, 
Upon the mountain's ridge it takes its stand 



272 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvii. 

So close — there balanced broad and steady, 

To bathe in dreamily-magical light 

What seemed a magical dream already, 
Twice beautify the beautiful, and strike 

Transcended sense dead-mute with admiration ! — 

And who could mark, with wondering soul-elation, 
That revel of redundant loveliness, 

Nor some such truth as Ranolf felt confess : 



" O these charms of great Nature ! who ever has seen them 

In their glory as these are, nor owned that the notion 

They force on the thinker, is true, not illusive — 

That our senses and they, so composed as between them 

To awake in the mind such delightful emotion, 

Are proofs self-attested, as logic conclusive, 

Of Benevolence somewhere, in what has created 

And keeps them to act and react on each other : 

A sentiment this, that no Science can smother. 

Nor condemn it as anthropomorphical folly — 

Since a cause they must have, one intelligent wholly — 

To hold that the Cause of these marvels must mean them 

To display that Benevolence — mutely reveal it 

In delight to the creature most fitted to feel it ! 

— Aye truly ! and though by stern reasoning's parity 

You maintain that in Nature, the baleful, disgusting 

Should be proof in its Cause of defect of such charity — 

That if Beauty be vaunted as sign of Benevolence, 

Deformity equally argues Malevolence, — 

Yet the first so outsplendours the last — so exceeds it — 

And the last has such uses, Mankind almost needs it — 

'Tis hard not to side with the hopeful and trusting ! 

Yes, cavil and carp, the nice balance adjusting, 



canto xvii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 273 

Yet is Beauty in literal truth, nothing less 

Than a Gospel — an embassy mute yet express 

From some Power imperial, of friendliness felt 

For mankind — say of Love ! one that never will cease 

To diffuse its serene revelations of peace ; 

Bright dawns and rich sunsets its eloquent books ; 

And the broad laugh of flowers, and the soft-chiming brook's 

Secret murmurs of joy, and the rapture of birds, 

Its angelical whispers, — accredited words : 

But holiest Woman's affectionate looks, 

Most thrillingly potent to move and to melt, 

Are the pages where clearest its plenary power 

Of divine Inspiration for ever has dwelt ! 

And he who has basked but one bliss-giving hour 

In their sunshine and solace, like me must avow, 

With the loveliest lessons of Love, it is thou 

O God-ordained Beauty, the Spirit canst fill ! 

Aye, 'tis Thou, in all shapes, of celestial good-will, 

Art the sweetest, most suasive Evangelist still ! " — 

in. 
Content that night no more to see, 
The wanderers push off merrily 
To what that night their home shall be : 
A little rugged isle (another 
Beside it standing, its twin-brother 
In conformation strange) that lifts 
Its verdurous tufts o'er tortuous rifts 
Misshapen — many a dip and rent 
In rock that — ever bathed, besprent 
With oozy hotspring, fervid play 
Of steam that finds a viewless vent — 
Is softening slow to pallid clay. 

18 



274 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvii. 

By isles — mere knots of waving grass, 

By thin-spread rush and reed they pass ; 

And fright a thousand birds that rise 

From bubbling channel, heated marsh ; 

And flee in flocks away, with cries 

Now plaintive, wild — now hoarse and harsh ; 

Coot, teal and that rich gallinule 

Of velvet violet plumage proud ; 

That, night and day, each open pool 

Or warm and watery covert crowd, 

And stalk and strut and peer and pry 

With jerking tail and searching eye ; 

Or plash and paddle, duck and dive, 

And through green bills quick-gargling drive 

The scooped-up Lake's clear lymph. And see, 

Pink-legged, snow-white or sable-pied, 

Those strangers from far Ocean's side; 

Slim oyster-catcher, avocet, 

And tripping beach-birds, seldom met 

Elsewhere — come hither, not for food, 

But on this warm delight to brood, 

This tepid inland luxury. 

The pair have left the light canoe 

And cross the soil with cautious tread, 

Whose treacherous crust they scarce can trust — 

Each step, it seems, may break it through. 

With springy swelling moss 'tis spread, 

An emerald, warm, and soaking sod, 

In places ; then their way they track 

Through little thickets, very black 

In shade against the tumbled blocks — 

The steaming, white and moonlit rocks — 



canto xvii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 275 

But cherished there to richness rare 

Of fragrant broom and ferny plume 

And winding woven lychopod 

Close-creeping — all luxuriant, lush, 

In that pervading vapour-gush. 

Then on a grassy spot the brake 

Left free — just large enough to make 

A couch for two, fenced all around 

With aromatic leptosperm — 

A soft green gapless wall — they heap 

Elastic fern and broom to keep 

Down to a pleasant warmth the heat 

The ground gives out; where they may sleep — 

Could Love desire a bower more sweet ?— 

Secure no noxious reptiles creep 

Throughout the land — evenomed worm, 

Or poison-snake you dread to meet ; 

And lulled by that low changeless churme, 

The hissing, simmering, seething sound 

That sings and murmurs all the while 

And ever round that mystic isle — 

May sleep a blissful sleep profound, 

Plunged in the calm unconscious heaven 

To youth and health out-wearied given. 



IV. 

Soon as the Morn from curtain-folds of grey 
Peeped out with smile so grave and tender, 

Like a young Queen upon her crowning-day 

Blushing to put on all that gold and splendour— 
Up rose the lovers to survey 

The marvels yet unseen that round them lay. 



276 Ranolf and Amokia. [canto xvn. 

Baths beauteous, statelier than of old 

Rome's silken Emperors ever planned, 
Of every nice degree of heat and cold, 

Are ready crystal-filled at hand : 

No need have they of fuel or fire 

To cook their morning meal to their desire ; 

Tis but to scrape a primrose-tinted seam, 
Some sulphur-crusted fissure dry 
That runs through fern and grass hard by — 
Up comes the hot and fizzing steam, 

"Wherein — or plunged in water boiling blue 
The food suspended, is, without ado, 
In style as wholesome quickly drest 
As Savarin's choicest, Soyer's best. 

v. 

Forthwith their gladsome way they take 

To all the marvels of the Lake. 

To Wata-poho's endless wail 

They list — the groans its tortures wrest 

From its hard agonising breast, 

So hollow, inward-deep and fierce, 

As upward shoot its showers intense, 

Cramming the narrow shaft they pierce 

Through shuddering rocks blanched ashy-pale ; 

Hot water, steam and sulphur-smoke 

Commingling in one column dense 

Of white terrific turbulence ! 

But other gentler feelings woke 

Its sister fountain welling nigh, 

Whose bursts of grief for moments brief 

Long-intervalled, in streams out-broke, 

And then would sink away and die 



canto xvii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 277 

With such soft moan relapsing slow — 
Such long-drawn breath of utter woe — 
It well became its mournful name, 
* K6-ingo — Love's desponding Sigh.' 
They visit then that narrow glen, 
Where at the foot of hills forlorn, 
Silicious slabs of spar flood borne, 
Like cakes of ice when Spring is young, 
Burst up by freshets wild, are flung : 
And slow they pick their cautious way 
By liquid beds of creamy clay, 
Where large white nipples rise and sink, 
And lazy bubbles break and fume, 
Up to a small square tarn pea-green — 
As green and bright as malachite, 
Beneath a crimson cliff in part 
White-mottled, and along the brink 
Of that clear water's grass-hued sheen — 
Where azure dragon-flies will dart 
A moment — feathered rich and dark 
With manuka, like fragrant broom. 
And near the valley's mouth they mark, 
Where thickets dense scarce leave a track, 
A boiling mud-pool sputtering black 
And baleful ; — mark, above its gloom 
What weird wild shapes the rocks assume ! 
Here, worn by water's sapping might, 
Time-crennelled turrets half o'erthrown ; 
There, idols blurred by ages' flight 
To shapes of unconjectured stone ; 
Now on the hill's low brow upright, 
Like men who walk in dreams by night, 
Dumbfounded, tottering — lost and lone ; 



278 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvh. 

Now, muffled forms their faces shrouding 
Opprest with some unheard-of doom ; 
Or woe-struck up the hillside crowding — 
Funereal mourners round a tomb : — 
Grotesque and ominous and grim, 
As Dore's wonder-teeming whim 
E'er forged and fixed in stony trance 
Of subtle-shaped significance. 

And next across the Lake they steer 

To see that fair cascaded stair 

That yester-eve they passed so near — 

' The Fountain of the Clouded Sky,' 

Tu-kapua-rangi — fitly styled, 

It flings its steam so wide and high. 

'Tis rosy rime they climb this time ; 

For floors and fringes, terrace piled 

O'er terrace, glow with faint carmine 

As fashioned of carnelian fine ; 

As if, continuous, full, from heaven 

Some wide white avalanche downward driven 

Came pouring out of Sunset, stained 

With sanguine hues it still retained. 

But at the topmost terrace — lo, 

A vision like a lovely dream ! — 

A basin large, its further marge 

And all its surface hid in steam 

That thinly driving o'er it flies, 

Spreads, level with the level plain 

Of smoothest milk-white marble grain : 

And all around its nearer brink 

A border broad of delicate pink 

That melts to lemon-yellow, dyes 



canto xvii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 279 

That whiteness, and with even hues 

Fair as a rainbow laid on snow, 

Its wavy outline still pursues. 

But through the driving vapour, see, 

Translucent depths of azure, bright 

And soft as heaven's divinest blue — 

A gulf profound of liquid light ! 

And from those depths, uprising through 

That azure light — yet all beneath 

The steaming surface — still as death, 

In snowy mute solemnity, 

A mighty forward-bending peak 

Of marble bows ; shaped like a paw, 

Say, some enormous polar bear's — 

Thick-set with many a flattened claw, 

All one way level-pointing — scale 

O'er scale like th' Indian pangolin's mail — 

All snowiest alabaster ! — Weak, 

Too weak, were any words to speak 

The hushed mysterious charm it wears, 

That ghostly-lovely miracle, 

Whose sides of snow far down below 

In boiling light that round them lies, 

Fade where the clear cerulean glow 

Of that unfathomed fervent well, 

In tenderest turquoise dimness dies ! 

O well may Ranolf for a while 

Enthusiast-like, sit rapt before 

That heaven-blue gulf and rock snow-white, 

Unconscious even of Amo's smile, 

Unconscious of her joyous eyes, 

And loving arms he scarce could feel 

That softly would around him steal 



280 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvii. 

As silent by his side she lay 

On that pure speckless snowy floor 

With pink and saffron purfle gay. 

Thus all the varied fountains found 
Among the ferny hills that bound 
Mahana, and a mile around — 
Of every flow and hue and sound 
They visit ; — tall columnar mound 
And diamond-cone, and haycock heap 
Of boiling snow, and springs that leap 
And languish, spurting fitful spray, 
And cloud-crowned stems of steam that spout 
At seasons, or shoot up alway ; 
Hid white about this verdurous waste 
Like statues in proud gardens placed : 
And one large font whose hollow bed 
With branching emerald coral spread, 
Through brilliant boiling crystal shows, 
Fine as the daintiest moss that grows ! — 
And sights as dread they meet throughout, 
As wild Imagination's worst 
Of black hell-broths and witches' bowls 
Infernal — Dante-pits accurst, 
Here realised in cankerous holes 
And sloughs of mud as red as blood, 
Pitch-black, or viscid yellow-drab, 
Or pap of clay light-bluish gray, 
Or sulphurous gruel thick and slab : 
Each sputtering, hot, commixture dire, 
Earth mineral-stuffed, and flood and fire, 
Together pashed and pent-up make, 
And fuse in sluggish fever nought can slake. 



canto xvii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 281 



So passed the day ; and swiftly sped 
Mid scenes where marvels ever varying rise ; 
The wanderers' eyes with wonder ever fed — 
Bright with continual flashes of surprise. 

VI, 

Late after noon it was, when tired the pair 
Returning to their starting point, once more 

Beside the mighty geyser stood 
That flings a panting column high in air— 
' Ohapu ' — ' Fountain of the dreadful Roar.' 

Their fancy sated with the sight of fear, 

They sate upon the hill above 
That cauldron, in the shade of rocky wood 

By bursting spring and boiling flood 
Distorted — sate in lounging mood 
In careless converse, to themselves how dear ! 
(Is any talk too trifling for true love ?) 
Where still the geysers' raging they could hear. 

— " This loitering through the land on foot, 

Now slow, now faster, as may suit 

One's humour best, I do enjoy 

So thoroughly — did always from a boy ! " — 

Said Ranolf, as himself he threw 

Upon the stunted fern — " Do you ? " 

" On foot ! " said Amo, " how else could you go ? 
Though in your land, I've heard, indeed, 
That travellers sometimes go at greater speed 
In strangest style — I ne'er believed it, though." 



282 Ranolf and AmoJda. [canto xvii. 

" What did you hear, my Amo ?" 

" It was he 
E Ruka, who had sailed beyond the sea ; 
But he so many monstrous stories told 
With face so true, by young and old 
' Kai-tito-nid ' he was named, 
1 The big lie-swallower ; ' ' pumpkin-headed ' too, 
To take whate'er he heard for true — 
They called him. I should be ashamed 
His silly solemn stories to repeat." 

" But let me hear about the travelling, sweet !" 

" Well, promise not to laugh — at least, not laugh 

Too much at me. 1 did not credit half 

The story, mind. He said, your people use 

To travel in, great land-canoes, 

Dragged by enormous dogs as tall 

As men, or taller ; nay, more strange — 

A thing that had to do with travel, 

Though how, I could not quite unravel — 

That beasts about your country range 

To which the mighty Moas were small 

Our songs make mention of ; that these 

Gigantic monsters, each and all 

Have double heads and shoulders double, 

Six legs or so ; and therefore go 

Swift as the wind ; then without trouble 

Can split in two whene'er they please, 

And both the fragments when they sever, 

Can run about as well as ever ! — 



canto xvii.j. Ranolf and Amohia. 283 

Nay, now, but I will hold your lips — 
You are not to laugh so — understand ; 
I will not take away my hand, 
Kiss as you may my finger-tips." 

The fact explained to her well nigh 
As wondrous as the fiction seemed : 
What ! get astride those beasts and fly ! 
'Twas like what Maui did or schemed, 
Who fished the Isles up — almost hitched 
The Sun into his noose, and then 
Had freed the happy sons of men 
From Night — Death — every denizen 
Of Darkness — all the evil crew 
Of powers bewitching or bewitched. 

"■ My Child — but these are trifles to 
The wondrous things our people do. — " 
He pointed toward the place where bellowing, crashing, 

That fierce terrific Hotspring raged ; 
With monstrous head in furious foam upsoaring, 
And boiling billows round the crater dashing — 
Its crusted soot-brown sides, like demons lashing ; 
Or if a moment from its maddest mood 
The lapsing Geyser seemed to sink assuaged, 
Mounting again amid the ceaseless roaring, 
Like hissing Cobra with inflated hood 
Upswelling swift — its reeking rush renewing, 
With force and frenzy evermore accruing ! 

" You hear," he said, " that hell-pool dread : 
What would you think if I should say 



284 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvii. 

My people have the skill to yoke 
The fiercest whirls of steam that ever broke 
From that tremendous pit of wrath, and tether 
As many moving houses gay 
Behind it as would all your tribe contain ; 
Then make it whisk them o'er the plain, 
Aye ! all your Tribe at once together, 
As smoothly, rapidly as flew 
The Kingfisher the other day 
With chestnut breast and back so blue 
That round our heads came swooping, screaming, 
Because we chanced to saunter near 
The barkless twisted tree-trunk (gleaming 
In sunshine silver-sharp and clear 
Against far purple hills) that hid 
The nest wherein his young ones lay ?" 

" Well, but if such a word you spoke 
I could but think, I could but say, 
'Twas my Ranoro's whim to joke ; 
And on her fond reliance play 
Who takes and trusts his every word, 
As if an Atua's voice she heard." 

" Nay ; pretty one ! 'tis simple fact — 
No silly jest, but truth exact." 

" Well then, my Chief, my Master dear 
Shall do as I, his handmaid, bid, 
And let me all the wonder hear." 

"■ Your language has no words, I fear — " 



canto xvii.] Ranolf and Atnohia. 285 

" Ah, we poor Maori ! worthless still, 
In deeds and words, no power, no skill ! — 
But tell me— that tremendous flying 
Is it not something dreadful, frightful 
Your people tremble at, while trying ?" 

" Not dreadful, dearest, but delightful — " 

And then with her request complying, 

" See — " he went on, as best he could, constraining 

Strange words and strange ideas to fit — • 

Though all the interruptions we omit 

Where foreign thought or phrase required explaining : — 

"See ! all in order ranged at hand 

The moving houses ready stand ; 

Your tribe all ranged in order too, 

Inside them sit — imagine how ; 

We take our places, I and you — " 

("Yes — were I close to you as now !" — ) 

" Impatient frets the giant, Steam, — 

You hear his wild complaining scream ; 

You hear him hissing ere he start 

Like pinned-down Snake that strives to dart ; 

Then off at once ! in perfect row 

Swift as a lance your warriors throw, 

Men, houses, all, away we go ! — 

Give place ! give place ! in silent race 
The distant woods each other chase ! 
Trees, hedges, hamlets — far and wide, 
They reel and spin, they shift and slide ! 
The dim horizon all alive — 
Hills, plains and forests, how they drive ! 
Determined to keep up and see 
They shoot ahead as fast as we ; 



286 Ranolf and Amoliia. [canto xvii. 

But nearer objects, soon as spied, 
Detach themselves and backward glide ; 
Behind us drifting one by one, 
Wink past the others and are gone ! 
See ! parallel field-furrows broad, 
That lie right-angled to the road, 
Like swiftly-turning wheel-spokes play — 
Turn — open — float and flit away ! 

More speed — more speed ! and shriller cries ! 
The panting road begins to rise, 
And like a whirling grindstone flies ! 
The fields close by can scarce be seen, 
A swift continuous stream of green ! — 
— But fix upon the scene around 
A steadier glance — in how profound 
A stillness seems that hamlet bound : 
How solemn, in secluded meadows 
Those oak trees standing on their shadows ; 
That church-tower wrapt in ivy-fleece, 
How sacred its inviolate peace ! 
The riot of our wild career 
Seems rushing through a land asleep 
Where all things rapt — entranced, appear, 
Or if they move, can only creep ; 
The lightest car, the heaviest wain — 
(Those land-canoes, you know, we use) 
And walking men whose figures plain 
A moment on the eye remain, 
Seem toiling backwards, all in vain ! — 
Then sudden — close — ere you can think, 
The blackest blinding midnight seems 
To make your very eyeballs shrink ; 
The air is dank — a hollow roar 



canto xvii. j Ranolf and Amohia. 287 

And deeper, harsher than before 
Is mingled with the Giant's screams, 
As — all the houses in a row — 
Right through a Mountain's heart we go ! 
But swiftly from the jaws of night 
Emerging, screeching with delight, 
Outcomes with unabated might 
The Monster and pursues his flight ! 
In sable stream thick issuing flies 
His furious breath across the skies : 
Each laborer as the ponderous whirr, 
The hammer-beats, incessant, strong 
And fast as flap of flying bird, 
The monster's eager pulse, are heard, 
Suspends the busy fork or prong 
And turns to look, but scarce can see 
The phantom, ere the rush and stir, 
Men, monster, long-linked houses, we — 
All smoothly thundering, tearing on, 
A human hurricane — are gone !" — 

She listened with rapt lips asunder, 

And rounded eyes of brilliant wonder : 

Love lent her Faith — nor could she draw 

Distinctions nice between what broke 

Or did not break, the natural law ; 

But could she, 'twould have been the same ; 

Not what was said, but he who spoke, 

Made what she heard as what she saw. 

That cloudy madness chained and curbed — 

And all her Tribe turned undisturbed 

Into a screeching bird that flew 

Unchecked the yielding Mountains through ! — 



2.88 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvii. 

What myth could daunt her after that? 
What miracle could Superstition name 
Were not beside it commonplace and flat — 
To stagger her belief, too tame ? — 
" These foreigners," she smiled, "'tis true, 
Whate'er they wish, their Atuas do ! " 

" An Atua — yes ! divine not dread — " 
(But this was rather thought than said) 
" Could I but make her understand 
How this benignant Genie grand, 
In form so fierce, in deeds so bland, 
Is toiling still o'er sea and land 
With might unwearied and unworn 
By slow degrees to raise Mankind ; 
Bestowing god-like powers, designed 
For mightier millions yet unborn, 
To wrest her plenteous treasure-horn 
From Nature's wise reluctant hand ; 
Consigning so to second place 
The Body's too absorbing claims ; 
Clearing the ground for higher aims ; 
Wiping the tears from Man's sad face ; 
Amalgamating every race — 
Creating Time — destroying Space." 

VII. 

Now to the Fountain- Stair beside the pass, 
The great white Fount, the pair their footsteps turning 
Paused to admire the baths, whose sheets of glass, 
Warm azure, with the blushing west were burning ; 

And Amo when her simple phrase had told 

The simple triumph that illumed 



canto xvit.] Ranolf and Amahia. 2S9 

Her features at her friend's delight 

Which seemed to say her country had one sight 

At least, as lovely, it must be avowed, 

As any in his native land so proud — 

The talk where it had broken off resumed : 

" Atuas or not — you must be wise and bold 

To work the wonders you unfold ; 

Too ignorant, alas ! or dull 

Am I, O friend, to comprehend 

Such things, I fear. But let me hear — " 

She said, in somewhat faltering tone 

As shy, lest what she asked make known 

More feelings than she cared to own : 

" Are not your Maidens beautiful ?" 

" More so than well my tongue can tell." 

" But not more beautiful than you — " 

"Than I ! " with laughter loud, be cried : 

" As much more as the graceful crane 

In dainty plumes without a stain 

Than her brown-mottled brother harsh, 

The booming bittern of the marsh ; 

As much more as the fragrant strings 

Of milky stars I've seen you tear 

From some great forest-galaxy 

With their sweet snows to double-dye 

The sable splendour of your hair, 

Than that vile twine of prickles fine 

Which if it touch you cuts and clings 

Whene'er you push through briar and bush." 

19 



290 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvn. 

" But 0, describe them, dearest, do ! " 

" Nay, how pourtray, how paint or say 

What deep enchantment round them lies — 

Great Nature's last felicities, 
Her happiest strokes of genius ! some of whom — 

Heart, mind and body, in the May 

And melody of perfect bloom, 

The coldest sceptic must assume 
The mighty Master fashioned to display 

In one consummate work how he 

Could make its outward form a shrine, 

A visible symbol and a sign 

Of what was throned within — divine ! 

Aye ! spite of Man's idolatry, 

For ever pardonably prone 

To worship more the shrine than Saint, 

And feel from love of that alone 

His beauty-burdened Spirit grow 

With too much adoration faint — 

Resolved in that rare Form to show 

For what the rarer Soul was given — 

To be to Man a living light 

And lure of spiritual beauty bright, 

To lead him on from height to height 

Of self-denying Love to heaven ! — 

But who that outward Shrine can paint, 
Whose mortal scarce can its immortal shroud ! 

What lofty-passioned words and tones 

Can picture forth those loveliest ones ! 

So blossom-cheeked, so heavenly-browed, 

With dowery of divinest eyes, 

Twin fragments of the azure skies 



canto xvii.] Ranolf and Aniohia. 291 

Beaming celestial blessing through 
Pure chastened lids whose perfect white, 
And the transparent temples too, 
Are stained with streaks of delicate blue 
As tender as thick-fallen snow 
Deep down in crack and crevice makes 
With its own shadow, when the weight 
Of piled-up frail congealment breaks. — 
Their hair ! O take when Morning wakes 
Her beams and twine them ! pleach and plait 
The Moon-sparks shrinking, leaping, linking, 
On yonder Lake at midnight — spin them 
With all the liquid gold within them 
Into fine skeins of splendour ! so 
You best may guess how tress on tress 
In long luxuriant glossiness 
Its gleaming undulations flow ! — 
But you should see — I cannot tell — 
What they resemble who so well 
Attest what truth of fancy nurst 
Your native myth how Woman first 
Was fashioned from comminglings sweet 
Of brilliant tremors of the noontide heat 
That shimmering near you, still retreat, 
And airy Echoes, sprites so shy 
Yet quick with answering sympathy, 
That ever haunting, ever hide 
IN ear cliff abrupt and mountain-side \ — 
With just enough of added Earth 
To temper charms of such etherial birth, 
Which else e'en Rapture's self would miss, 
Which else its fond embrace would fly — 
To something lovelier it can clasp and kiss ! " — 



292 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvii. 



" And have they flaxen mantles fair 
As this — with broidered border rare ? 
And do their greenest jewels shine 
Like this pellucid jade of mine ? " 

"For dress they rob the sunset — take 

Its gorgeous glisterings from the Lake, 

Or swathe their forms in gauzy mist 

The Moon might envy them at night, 

Pavilioned with pure amethyst, 

In pearliest virgin vesture dight ! 

And as for gems ! — they wreathe about 

Their arms that dazzle you without, 

And necks, that when your eyes you shut, 

Leave shapes of sinuous snowy bloom 

In vivid loveliness clear-cut 

And floating on the purple gloom — 

Such trails of richest radiance set 

In linked array of flower and fret, 

As if they strung the beaded clusters, 

The little lamping flame-hued lustres, 

Sapphires winking, rubies blinking, 

Trembling emerald-sparks, adorning 

The mist-besilvered meads of morning 

When first the Sun new-fires them ! Aye 

And always had that Sun hard by 

To keep them, as his only duty, 

Still bristling with all hues of beauty ! " — 

VIII. 

But while he spoke there stole unseen 
O'er Amohia's frank bright face 



canto xvil] Ranolf and Amohia. 293 

A shadow — as a slow white cloud 
Grows over all the blue sky-space 
Left by an opening in the green 
O'er-roofing forest thick-emboughed, 
And sheds soft gloom where light but now was shining. 
He marked the mournful drooping head, 
The cheek where sadly-pensive spread 

The long -curled lashes low-declining : 
" Yet," said he quickly, " few of those 
Have such a faultless form as you, 
Whose every facile movement shows 
What perfect grace on perfect limbs 
The perfect freedom from restraint bestows ; 
Few such a blithe bright bearing ; few 
Could bound as is your wont 
Up the great mountain-side and chase 
The shadow of the cloud that skims 
Scarce fleeter in its flying race ; 
Or at the summit could confront 
The bland magnificence of Nature's brow 
With such superb and regal innocence 
And look and mien so kindred ! few have eyes 
Of such a brilliant power 
They take away your breath and burn 
Right through your heart whene'er they turn 
Their melting flashes on you ! few could shower 
Such silky breadths of darkness down as now 
I hold between me and their gaze, 
To see if still their brightness will 
Come breaking through in spurry rays 
Like evening sunbeams through a thicket dense ! 
Yes ! howsoe'er those beings fair 
With Art to aid and Culture's care 



294 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvii. 

From human almost to divine may rise, 

For charms like these, not many there 

Could with my Wonder of the Wilds compare ! " 

The sunny look at once returned, 
And through the clear warm brown discerned, 
The blush of artless triumph burned. 
Then round his neck her arms she threw 
And gazed, with love how fond and true 
As upon something to adore, 
Upon the face above her — in that vein 
When parted lips and anxious sigh confess 
Content is at its highest, and the excess 
Of pleasure trembles on the brink of pain ; 
With simplest admiration too 
Reading his features o'er and o'er, 
As if her eyes could never feed 
Enough, nor sate her heart's impassioned greed 
For what to her was beautiful indeed : 
' Kai-mata ' — ' face-devouring gaze ' 
Her country's own poetic phrase 
Had called the glance that so much love displays. 
But how conceive her feeling ? how 
The picture fond her fancy drew, 
The halo round his form she threw ! 

To that enamoured fancy, quite 

Unused to the fair-tinted faces 

Of our Caucasian northern races, 
This Stranger, with his eyes of sparkling blue 
That shone through shadows of a thoughtful brow 
Embossed with Intellect, and full and white, 

With clustered gold about it curled, 
Seemed some high Being from another World ! 



canto xvil] Ranolf and Amokia. 295 

August and beautiful and bright 
To her he well might seem, 
As you perchance would deem 
Some Phidian Temple must have looked of old; 
Where architrave and pediment arise, 
With metope-squares of dauntless proud emprise, 
And friezes full of life ! — serenely bold 
Broadly confronting the broad skies, 
And throwing deep majestic shade 
(As human brow o'er human eyes) 

Into the interspaces made 

By many a stately colonnade ; — 
As such a Temple must have looked when bare 
Its snowy grace and lovely grandeur first 

Upon the shouting people burst ! 
Its solemn charm that would have awed, almost 
In the mere splendor of material lost ; 

Because so brilliant fresh and new, 
So delicately tinted here and there 
With rainbow colours pure and fair, 
The sculptured Marvel stood in view ; 

The matchless groups around it rife 

In stirring trance of pomp or strife, 
Sharp from some famous chisel, every one ; 

The marble dust of recent working 

In glittering specks about them lurking — 
All just uncovered to the morning Sun ! 

IX. 

But fair as Phidian Temple tinged so purely, 
That pure untinged white-terraced Fount coralline 
Showed, with its baths cerulean and crystalline, 
Whereon they gazed when not upon each other 



296 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvil 

Their lover-gaze delightedly was dwelling ; 

When looks, where Love was seated so securely, 

To answering looks ceased passionately telling 

The tide of tenderness each bosom swelling : 

Then, as they watched the huge Steam-cloud thatwhitely 

O'er the main pool, like some nest-brooding mother, 

Spread swanlike wings the brilliant water shading — 

Enveloped and imparadised more brightly 

In a Love-cloud as fervid and unfading, 

They saw how richly, though from surface duller, 

That still, suspended Mist reflected duly 

The bubbling basin's amethystine colour ; 

Returning tint for lovely tint as truly 

As in their mirrored eyes, fond, deep, untroubled, 

They marked, upwelling ever freshly, newly, 

Their mutual Love reflected and redoubled ! 

Then to the glen that fronts the islets twain 

And to their isle itself they come — 
That ever-singing isle — through all the train 
Of water-birds that swarm the simmering plain, 

Thick as the sower's air-scattered grain ; 

And then their bower of manuka they gain 

Already soothing with a sense of home ; 

The grateful viands follow, fountain-drest ; 

And then that churme monotonous, ne'er represt, 
Lulls them again entranced to Love's Elysian rest. 



canto xviii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 297 



CANTO THE EIGHTEENTH. 



"Shall we run into the cloudlet, love, so luminous and white 
That is crouching, up in sunshine there, on yonder lofty 

height 1 
We could step out of the splendour all at once into the 

mist — 
Such a sunny snowy bower where a maiden might be kissed ! 
From the woody lower terrace we could climb the russet 

steep 
Near that chasm gorged with tree-tops still in shadow dewy- 
deep, 
Where another slip of vapour, see ! against the purple black, 
Set on fire by the sunbeam which has caught it there alone, 
Like a warrior-chief inciting his adherents to attack, 
Has upreared itself upright with one imperious arm out- 
thrown ! 
Up that slope so smooth and ruddy we could clamber to the 

crags 
To the jutting rim of granite where the crouching cloudlet 

lags: 
In and out the bright suffusion up above there in the skies, 
I would follow my fleet darling by the flashing of her eyes, 
O'er that lofty level summit, as they vanished vapour-veiled, 



298 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xviil 

Or would glitter out rekindling and then glance away to 
seek, 

Like swift meteors seen a moment, for some other silver 
streak — 

Now bedimmed and now bedazzling till each dodge and 
double failed, 

An,d I caught her — O would clasp her ! such delicious ven- 
geance wreak 

On those eyes — the glad, the grand ones ! on that laughter- 
dimpled cheek, 

Till with merciless caresses the fine damask flushed and 
paled, 

And half-quenched in burning kisses those bewitching lustres 
quailed ! " 

" Nay, but Rano, my adored one — O my heart and souPs 

delight I 
Scarce with all your love to lead me— fold me round from all 

affright — 
Would I dare ascend that Mountain ! woody cleft and fissure 

brown 
Are so thick with evil spirits — it has such a dread renown ! 
Such a hideous Lizard-Monster in its gloomy shades it 

screens, 
That as rugged as the rocks are, winds along the close 

ravines — 
E'en asleep lies with them sinuous like a worm in twisted 

shell— 
And has eaten up more people in old days than I can tell ! 
Would you go and wake that Taniwha ! O not at least to- 
day : 
Look how lovely cairn the Lake is ! — 'twill be sweeter far to 

stray 



canto xviii. ] Ranolf and Amohia. 299 

In the blue hot brilliant noon-tide to each secret shadowy 

bay, 
And afloat on liquid crystal pass the happy time away ! " — 

So he, who when he had his will, 

For pleasure always went up hill, 

So Ranolf spoke ; and so replied 

His wildwood bride, the diamond-eyed, 

When morning's beam began to burn, 

Up-springing from their couch of fern 

By charming Tara-we'ra's side. 

A little plot of smooth green grass — • 

By tapering trees thick-set and tall 

Beneath grey rocks that rose o'er all, 

Shut in behind — a verdurous wall 

Circling that lawny flat so small 

Down to the very water's edge, 

That spread in front its liquid glass ; — 

Not far from where, 'mid reed and sedge 

The warm Mahana's rapid tide, 

A mile-long stream scarce six feet wide, 

Comes rushing through the open pass — 

As seeks a hot and fevered child 

Its Mother's bosom cool and mild — 

To Tara-weras' ample Lake ; 

This shallow niche, tree-girt and green, 

With nought its still sweet charm to break, 

The lovers' lonely bower had been. 



11. 
In sunshine stretching lightly o'er 
The Lake's far end from shore to shore, 



;oo Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvur. 

Long stripes of gauze-like awning lay — 

In stripes serene and white as they, 

Repeated on its bright blue floor : 

And many a rocky rugged bluff, 

With crimson-blossoming boscage rough, 

O'er beetling crest and crevice flung ; — 

White cliff or dark-green hill afar 

With patches bleached of scarp and scar — 

Stood boldly forward sunrise-fired, 

Or back in sun-rilled mist retired. 

Untrembling, round the glistering rim 

Of that expanse of blooming blue, 

From headland bright or inlet's brim, 

Long fringes of reflection hung. 

Its ramparts stretched along the sky, 

One mighty Mountain reared on high 

Far o'er the rest a level crest, 

With jutting rounded parapet 

And rude rock-corbels rough-beset, 

Half-blurred by time and tempest's fret ; 

While smooth its slopes came sweeping down 

From that abraded cornice brown. 

The mountain this, the ruddy steep, 

That Ranolf, sun-awaked from sleep, 

So longed to scale \ and high in air 

In glad imagination share 

Its sky-possessing majesty 

Of haughty isolation ! — there 

Into each dark recess to pry 

And every sight and secret see 

Its lofty level might reveal, 

Or those grim fissures' depths conceal, 

That split the Mountain into three. 



canto xviii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 301 

About the heights, soft clouds, a few, 
Clung here and there like floating flue ; 
Like helpless sea-birds breeze-bereft, 
Unmoving spread their pinions white — 
From jutting crag, deep-bathed in light, 
To slip away in snowy flight ; 
Or closely crouched in shadowy cleft, 
Like lambing ewes the flock has left. 
Below, o'erjoyed at darkness fleeing, 
Reviving Nature woke again 
To all the exceeding bliss of being ! 
The minnows leapt the liquid plain 
In shoals — each silvery-shivering train, 
A sudden dash of sprinkled rain ! 
The wild-ducks' black and tiny fleet 
Shot in-and-out their shy retreat ; 
The cormorant left his crowded tree 
And stretched his tinselled neck for sea ; 
All Nature's feathered favourites poured 
To their adored undoubted Lord 
Of light and heat, accordance sweet 
Of pure impassioned revelry ; 
And honey-bird and mocking-bird 
And he of clearest melody, 
The blossom-loving bell-bird — each 
Delicious-throated devotee 
In happy ignorance framed to be 
Content with rapture — longing-free 
For life or love they cannot reach — 
Like chimes rich-tuned, to heaven preferred 
The praise of their mellifluous glee ; 
Each lurking lyrist of the grove 
With all his might sung all his love ; 



302 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xviil 

Till every foliage-filled ravine 
And bower of amaranthine green 
Rang persevering ecstasy. 

in. 
With free elastic hearts that shone 
In joy as fresh as morning's own — 
Each seated in a light canoe, 
The kind Lake-villagers supplied — 
Amo's the lighter — gayer too, 
With snowy tufts of feathers tied 
In rows along each ruddy side — 
The pair went paddling, fancy-led ; 
For here no wondrous sights of dread 
Or beauty lurked to guide their guest 
As at Mahana — nothing strange, 
Or out of Nature's wonted range : 
Yet Ranolf marked with lively zest 
What charms the changeful scene possest : 
The billowy-tumbling hills — the crags — 
The smooth green slopes fern-carpeted ; 
Low cliffs with feathery foliage graced ; 
Rock-palisades emerging pale 
And grey ; and precipices faced 
With headstones — close-set armour-scale 
Of gothic-pointed bristling flags ; 
Flat islets crowned with wood — cliff-bound ; 
And lake-side bowers and canopies ; 
And caves and grottos within these ; 
And lichened rocks that singly stand 
Detached from green umbrageous land, 
Mere pedestals for single trees ; 
Or, jutting out with jagged arms 



canto xviii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 303 

All plumed and fair with greenery, bear 
Into the Lake the forest's charms; 
And with the bank that proudly swells — 
A wooded wall without a strand — 
Make niches, nooks, and liquid cells, 
With interlacing boughs o'erspanned. 

IV. 

The mists were gone — the sun rode high ; 
On went they paddling merrily, 
Each bay and cove and nook to try; 
In loving converse sauntering slow 
Or darting swiftly to and fro, 
Except for pleasure, purposeless 
As minnow-crowds whose sinuous stream 
Meandering through the azure gleam 
Darkened the watery depths below. 
It chanced the boats a moment lay 
With prows that pointed both one way, 
Amo's ahead a little space : 
A sudden whim lit up her face ; 
Then, as a challenge for a race, 
She chaunted, ere away she sped, 
With laughing frowns of loving spite, 
Set teeth and sideways-shaken head, 
Mock words of bitter-sweet delight : 

" I am Hatu ! I'm Hatu ! poor boy of the glen 
Whom the wicked witch-giantess hid in her den ! 
And you are the Giantess hoarding her prize 
With her terrible claws — O such hideous eyes ! 
But I've fled from caresses I . . . hate, O so much ! 
Escaped from her loathsome, her horrible touch — 



304 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvin. 

From her dreadful . . dear ! . . clutches escaped to the plain, 
And I dare, I defy her, to catch me again ! " — 

Then paddling off with all her might, 

Away across the lake she flew, 

And left a wake of foam snow-bright, 

And broadening ripple glassy- blue ; 

While, dashing after, less expert 

Soon Ranolf finds he must exert 

His utmost skill to catch her, too. 

But when, though less by skill than strength, 

He nears her flying skiff at length — 

With nimble paddle, dodging back 

She slips off on another tack, 

With swiftly-flitting noiseless ease ; 

As — when some fisher thinks to seize 

With gently-dropped and stealthy spear 

A flounder, down in shallows clear, 

'Mid mottling tufts of dusky weeds 

And white sand-patches where it feeds — 

The trembling shadow shifts away 

Through faintly-shimmering water grey — 

'Tis there — and gone — his would-be prey ! 

So, hovering round with wistful eyes, 

While many a feint, to cheat, surprise, 

That merry mocker, Ranolf tries, 

She, at a little distance staying, 

And watchful, with the paddle playing, 

No move of his, no glance to miss — 

Now darts alert that way, now this ; 

And at each foiled attempt again 

Provokes him in alluring strain : 



canto xviii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 305 

" Look ! I'm one of those divine ones — joy and love of all 

beholders, 
Who had pinions, O such fine ones ! growing from their 

stately shoulders ; 
Not that fond one too confiding — so in vain your bright 

eyes watch me — 
He, the last on earth residing ... Ah ! you need not 

think to catch me ! . . . 
Who, beside his loved-one lying, let the Maid while he was 

sleeping, 
Press his wings off, spoil his flying — lest he e'er should leave 

her weeping ! " — 

Then off she skims in circuit wide, 
Resolved another plan to try. 
Again with paddles swiftly plied, 
Again across the lake they fly ; 
And as her little bark he nears, 
A new defiance Ranolf hears : 

" I'm Wakatau, he — 

That Child of the Sea ! 

And my dearest delight 

Is flying my kite. 

Down beneath, on the sand, 

With the string in my hand, 

Under water I stand ; 

Or the kite in the air, 

Like the day-moon up there, 

Like an albatross strong, 

Draws me swiftly along 

As I float to and fro 

On the green sea below. — 

20 



$o6 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvm. 

Apakiira, my mother, 

Can catch me, none other ; 

From the quickest alive, 

Down — down —would I dive ! — 

Whoever you be — 

Though fonder, though dearer, 

You, you are not she, 

Apakura, O no ! — 

So if you come nearer, 

See — down I must go ! " 

Scarce on the gunwale had he laid 
His hand, and scarce the words were said, 
Ere, slipping from her loosened dress, 
Her simple kilt and cloak of flax — 
Just as a chestnut you may press 
With careful foot ere ripened well, 
Shoots from its green and prickly shell, 
With tender rind so tawny-clean 
And dainty-pure and smooth as wax — 
She shot into the blue serene — 
A moment gleamed, then out of sight, 
Swift as a falling flash of light ! 
All round he seeks with anxious mien 
The Naiad — nowhere to be seen : 
A fearful time he seems to spy — 
His heart beats quick — when lo, hard by, 
A mermaid ! risen on the rocks, 
Whose diamond glances archly play 
Through shaken clouds of glittering locks, 
And glancing showers of diamond-spray : 
" You are not Apakura ! O, no, no, not you ! " 
She cries — and dives beneath the blue. 



canto xvin.] Ranolf and Amohia. 307 

He follows, watching where she glides 

Beneath a drooping pall profound 

Of boughs, that all the water hides. 

Into the gloom he pushes : sound 

Or sight of her is none around. 

But hark ! — 'twas somewhere near the bank 

That sudden plash ! it takes his ear 

As startlingly as sometimes, near 

A stream where June's hot grass is rank, 

You hear the coiled-up water-snake 

Your unsuspecting footsteps wake, 

Flap down upon the wave below, 

And wabbling through the water go. 

Again to the mid lake she hies ; 

In swift pursuit again he flies : 

And see ! she waits with face, how meek ! 

Till he can touch and almost clasp, 

The shining shoulders, laughing cheek ; 

Then, diving swift, eludes his grasp : 

Just as, with quick astonished eye, 

A wild-duck waits, until well-nigh 

The ruddy-curled retriever's snap 

Is gently closing like a trap 

On its poor neck and broken wing, 

Before with sudden jerk she dips, 

Beneath the ripple vanishing. 

From Ranolf so the Maiden slips — 

And when, the chase renewed, he nears 

The spot where next she reappears, 

Look ! floating on the glass she lies 

With close-sealed lips and fast-shut eyes, 

Still as a Saint in marble bloom 

Carved snowy-dead upon a tomb. 



308 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xviii. 

Close to her side his skiff he steers : 
" O Swallow of the waters fleet, 

wild lake-bird ! my Swift, my sweet, 
My lovely-crested grebe ! at last, 

1 catch, I kiss, I hold you fast ! " 
He takes that slender hand of hers ; 
She answers not — nor looks — nor stirs ; 
Surprised, her listless arm he shakes — 
She neither stirs — looks up — nor wakes. 
" Speak, speak, my Amo ! what is this ! 
Do you not feel my clasp, my kiss ? 
Do you not hear my voice ? " — Ah no ! 
That low sad moan no answer gives : 

She breathes — but heavy, stertorous, slow ; 
That breathing barely shows she lives. 
He felt her heart — it faintly pulsed ; 
At times she shudders as convulsed : 
"Yes, it must be ! the hot, high sun 
Has struck her, dear one ; too opprest, 
With such exertions quite o'erdone ! " 
Alarmed — reflecting what were best, 
He soon resolves, and does it too. 
Beneath each arm with tenderest care, 
He twines a tress of streaming hair, 
And knots them both with double turn, 
Rich-volumed to his own canoe — 
The open carved work of the stern : 
Then tows her senseless till they reach 
The nearest stripe of sandy beach : 
There leaps ashore — seeks — breaks in half, 
A cockle-shell — 'twill answer well : 
Then finds and feels the corded vein 
That crosses with its azure stain 



canto xvni.] Ranolf and Amohia. 309 

The tender hollow of her arm, 

And soon will wake the life-tide warm. 

But ere the shell's sharp point can wound — 

Just ere it pricks her — from the ground, 

Upleaping with a silvery laugh, 

The cheat confessed, she darts away, 

(Snatching her mantle up that lay 

In Ranolf s boat, which he had thrown 

Into it as she left her own) 

And to a thicket near has flown — 

Swift — sudden-glancing as a bird 

The loud flirt of whose wing is heard 

A moment, on the hot wood-side, 

As, brushing out and in again, 

A scarlet gleam, you see him glide, 

Lancing his dodging flight ; even so 

Does Amo still the chase maintain ; 
And Ranolf follows, with mock-angry show 
Of mirthful vengeance, fondly-threatening cries, 

And chastisements that are caresses in disguise. 

v. 
Thus ever and anon, this buoyant Child, 
Free as the winds and as the waters wild, 

With wayward whims the time beguiled : 
Thus would the tranquil tenor of her joy 
Still quicken into rapids of delight ; 
And break meandering into branches bright 
Of manifold emotions that would rove 
Diversely, but to give redoubled force 
And sweet variety to one sure course — 
Spreading and sparkling only to unite 
In one broad current of unfailing Love. 



310 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xviii. 

Such simple arts would she employ 
To tamper with, and tease, and toy 
With her content, its depth to prove, 
With sportive sallies — sly disguises, 
Arch mockeries — mimicries — surprises ; 
So on her heart impress a sense 
More varied, vivid, and intense, 
Of bliss all golden-pure without alloy, 
And Love no time could cool, no fond fruition cloy ! 

VI. 

'Tis burning Noon : from heat and glare 
How sweet the bower the lovers share ! 
A Lakeside cleft — a rock-recess 
Of soft sun-chequered quietness, 
A nook for lovers made express. 
Like birds in some umbrageous tree 
Girt round with leaves they seemed to be, 
A hollow globe of greenery : 
For twisting, arching, overhead 
Dark serpentining stems were spread ; 
And arching, twisting, down below, 
Stems serpentining seemed to grow • 
While on a plane of light between, 
Suspended lay those skiffs serene. 
Sunbathed arose the dome-like roof 
A strangely-splendid wondrous woof ; 
Whose dark-green glistening foliage seemed 
Thick over-showered with shining snow, 
Except where blood-red masses gleamed — 
Such luminous crimson — all aglow ! 
White buds and opening leaves the first, 
With silvery-sheening velvet lined j 



canto xviil] Ranolf and Amohia. 311 

The last, rich-tufted bloom that burst 

Bright-bristling, with the sun behind ; 

As if whole trees, 'mid heaped snow-showers 

Were turning into burning flowers ! 
' Below, the pair as thus in air 

Upbuoyed, a sight as fair enjoyed ; 

The hollow shadowy floor, o'erlaid, 

Beneath the clear transparent void, 
\ With silvery-crimson soft brocade, 

To that above in shape and hue 

So like, the seeming from the true 

By its inversion best they knew. 

It was the ' downy ironheart ' 

That from the cliffs o'erhanging grew, 

And o'er the alcove, every part, 

Such beauteous leaves and blossoms threw, 

And made this cool sequestered nest 

For silent, lone and loving rest 

'hen for refreshment in the noontide heat, 
With mockery of much ado, 
And lips comprest and pursed-up too, 
And little nods of playful pride, 
And self-complacent confidence to win 
Applause at fine arrangements so complete — 
As who should say : ' Now open wide 
Your eyes and see how / provide ! — 
Fair Amo with arch mimic pomp outdrew 
A platted basket hid in her canoe, 
Cool-packed with leaves and lightly tied — 
A flax-green basket autumn-piled ; wherein 
Date-like karakas made a. golden show 
Quince-coloured and quince-smelling ; faintly sweet 



12 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xviii. 

Soft aromatic pepper-spikes were seen ; 
Potato-apples of the poro-poro tall 
Rich-mellowing from their crude lip-burning green ; 
* And, bounteous 'mid these wood-gifts wild and small, 

Ripe, slippery-seeded and of juiciest flow, 
Great water-melons melting crisp with crimson snow. 



Nor was there lack of more substantial food, 
Leaf-hidden in a smaller green flax-hamper ; 
Choice too, for appetites so young and good— 
As roasted wild duck, red-gray parrot stewed, 
And bread in its primeval form of ' damper ' — 
Unleavened cakes of palatable maize 
Well pounded by Te Manu, and well kneaded 
By Amo, and in hot wood-ashes clean 
Well baked — or rather in oven of simpler sort 
Than most remote ' Stone-period ' could report- 
Mere flagstones laid and heated without trouble 
Upon a quenchless fountain's boiling bubble ; 
Plat cakes that dish and platter superseded ; 
And used instead, recalled in this far scene 
A moment's memory of old school-boy days 
To Ranolf — that crab-apple-feasted crew 
Of Ocean-wanderers, wearily reposing 
In maple shadows on green sunny slopes, 
And watching with dim eyes and fading hopes, 
The sparkle of the sea-waves summer-beaded ; 
Then fair Ascanius luckily disclosing 
The prophecy's fulfilment, else unheeded, 
" What ! must we eat our very tables too ! " — 
Nay, one more luxury swelled the savoury list— ^ 
That dainty by our daintiest humourist 



canto xviii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 313 

So prized — roast sucking-pig ! for two of these 
Nimble Te Manu had contrived to seize, 
Cut off by clever doubles yesternight 
From a long train that scampered after 
Their grunting dam, and, driven from her track 
Could not escape the youngster's clutches, though 
They dodged him, as disabled half by laughter, 
He obstinately chased them to and fro 
An hour at least, imprisoned as they were 
Between a shrunken river, and cliff chalk-white 
That wall-like rising at their back 
From the broad gravelbed upright 
Without a blade of verdure, bright and bare, 
Made the small runaways look doubly black, 
Doubly conspicuous in the sunset's glare. 

VII. 

So each as in a floating nest, 
Moored side by side the lovers rest, 
And catch veiled glimpses as they lie 
Of splendour-flooded azure sky. 
The birds that sung those matins sweet 
Are silent now in slumberous heat. 
In dreamy-lighted luxury 
Lies Ranolf musing — marking well 
Each charm of water, rock and tree 
About that shadowy glimmering cell ; 
The low grey cliffs with stains imbued 
Of lichens white and saffron-hued, 
Flat crumpled — or blue hairy moss ; 
All doubled in the shimmering gloss : 
Sometimes a loose-furred hawkmoth, see ! 
At those rich blossoms restlessly 



3H Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvih 

Fumbles to suck their anthers sweet : 

Sometimes, invading that retreat 

Great black white-banded dragon-flies — 

With green and gold-shot globuled eyes 

On either side projecting wide 

Like swift coach-lamps— on quivering wings 

Of glittering gauze dart all about ; 

With tinier ones of richer dyes, 

That hover — dodge aside — and fix 

Themselves with those bent-elbowed legs, 

And heads so loose, endlong to sticks 

And twigs, and hold as straight as pegs 

Their blue or scarlet bodies out ; 

Just as a tumbler, mid his tricks 

Seizes an upright pole and flings 

His particoloured legs in air, 

And holds them horizontal there — 

So proud to ape a finger-post. 

" They were revolting, hideous things," 

Thought Ranolf, " but at least could boast 

A faith that made them leave in time — 

Come shouldering up through mud and slime 

With horny eyes and dull surprize, 

Out of the clogging element 

Where their first grovelling life they spent ! " — 

— Meanwhile unseen cicadas fill 

The air with obstinate rapture shrill — 

A wide-fermenting restless hiss 

Proclaiming their persistent bliss ; 

As if the very sunshine found 

A joyous voice — and all around, • 

While woods and rocks and valleys rung, 

In brilliant exultation sung. 



canto xviil] Ranolf and Amokia. 315 



And Ranolf loved — could not but prize 

That tiny classic Cymbalist, 

So graced with old Greek memories ; 

The rapture-brimmed, rich-burnished one — 

His bright green corselet streaked with jet, 

His brow with ruby brilliants set — 

That, undisturbed, would ne'er desist 

From clicking, clattering in the sun 

His strident plates — at every trill 

Jerking with stiffly quivering thrill 

His glassy-roofing wings ; as gay 

As when two thousand years ago — 

Where — through thin morning vapour gray, 

With snowy marble gleams between 

Blue-shadowy clefts of fragrant gloom, 

Melodious ever and alive 

With immemorial bees that hive 

In honied thickets, lilac-green 

With sage and thyme in deathless bloom — 

Bare old Hymettus looked serene 

O'er silvery glimpses far below 

Of pure Ilyssus in swift flow 

Through plains — one revel of renown ; — 

The hyacinth-curled bronzed Attic boy, — 

As fond of sunshine, full of joy, 

In some hot mead where violets hid 

Blue round the well's white time-worn trunk 

Of hollow marble slightly sunk 

In grass about the spring that slid 

Slow-steeping crystal all the year — 

Would pause beneath the olive shade 

In loitering chat with one so dear, 



316 Ranolj and Amohia. [canto xviii. 

That slim slip of a Greek-limbed Maid, 

Who looks so sweetly grave upon 

Sad news about their neighbour's son 

Killed — since they met, at . . . Marathon ! — 

— Pause, in the act of sucking down 

The fig she brings him — bursting-ripe, 

Plump, melting-skinned, and purple-brown, 

To mark their little gay compeer, 

As hand in hand they draw too near, 

Abruptly stilling his sweet shrilling, 

And edging round his olive branch, 

Backing and sidling out of sight 

Of eager eyes, that gleam gray-bright, 

As one fond wish the Boy expresses, 

That chirper were but turned to gold 

To stick in Myrrhin's golden tresses ! 

While not his wildest dream had told 

The lad, how many an age to come, 

In what far regions all unknown, 

His race's merry earthborn type 

Would still be singing blithe and stanch, 

After its own grand Muse was dumb, 

Its noisy greeds and glories gone ! 

So Ranolf 's musing fancy strung 
Together olden scenes and new ; 
Or on more dubious ventures flew, 
If e'er as to some bough it clung 
The songster's pupa-case was seen, 
Whence from his base life subterrene 
He made escape in winged shape — 
The bright transparent brittle sheath 
Wherein he slept his life-in-death. 



canto xviil] Ranolf and Amohia. 317 

A suit of perfect armour, where 

He left it Ranolf notes it still ; 

An open crack across the back, 

And lobster-claws thrown by because 

Superfluous found, his labour crowned ; 

The forelegs raised — ' not as in prayer.' 

Thinks he — " but work ; for he too, mark ! 

Was forced to dig with strength and skill 

His stout way from his dungeon dark 

Up to his heaven of sunshine ! Thus 

From clogged and cramped existence fleeing, 

He tries a second state of being 

In the sphere that holds but one for us : 

But both his lives to us seem one 

Who see the changes undergone : 

So this life and another too, 

Nay, lives on lives, perhaps, of ours, 

May seem but one to wider view 

And keenlier-gifted loftier powers ; 

The subtle links we lose pursued, 

The metamorphose understood. 

But with what pitying smile must they 

Look on, when with such sad array 

The human insects hide away 

Some care-worn soul-case out of sight — 

And weep because they cannot stay 

The freshwinged Soul's unfettered flight 

To wider spheres and new delight ! — 

" That was the way those types to read — 
A fine old cheery way indeed. 
Will Science say remorseless ? — ' Nay, 
You must not read them so to-day. 



1 8 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvm. 

The actual metamorphoses 

Foreshadowed by — akin to these, 

Are antenatal in mankind, 

Gone through already. One surmise 

From lingering traces undesigned 

Of transformations some low grade 

Of life sustained, ere birth displayed 

In nascent undeveloped Man, 

Might be by strictest reasoning made : 

That if organic Being rise 

Elsewhere upon the selfsame plan — 

Continue so ascending — there 

Some glorious creature might be found 

Of frame more complex, powers more rare, 

In whom Man's perfect mould would be 

But one in its imperfect round 

Of embryotic stages. Try 

What help, what hope therein may lie ! ' — 

Well, then, methinks, that surging sea 

Of resonant shrill melody 

Rings out a thoughtless answer free, 

Whence one may frame a thoughtful plea : 

' O human Insect ! sad Truth-seeker — 

Which of us two is wiser — weaker ? 

Your senses — those deep reasoning powers 

You will within their bounds compress, 

May take a wider range than ours, 

How vastly wider ! none the less 

They both are dwarfed, unspeakably 

Fall short of, and are distanced by 

The infinite Reality : 

And all beyond their feeble reach 

Will doubtless seem and be for each 



canto xviii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 319 

A blank — a void — mere nothingness ! 

Think you the mighty gains you boast, 

The ever deepening, widening host 

Of wonders Science as she presses 

Into the Mystery's first recesses, 

Works out, worms into, proves or guesses : — 

— Creation, like a firework splendid 

Ever exploding, unexpended ; 

As endlessly it whirls and flies 

Still breaking into brilliancies 

Of stranger gleam and lovelier guise : — 

— Organic Nature, in its flow 

By inorganic guided, so 

Divinely from its hidden fount ; 

Germs, gemmules, cells, life-struggles dense — 

And Circumstance turned God at least, 

Combining, with intelligence 

So matchless, to evolve and mould 

Life's plastic structures manifold 

To perfect tree, man, insect, beast ; 

With agents — climate, fire and frost, 

Food, famine — skilled to crush, uphold, 

Choose what had best survive or perish — 

The lower to check, the higher to cherish — 

Make progress sure at any cost : — 

— Then all those correlated forces, 

All Motion's masquerading courses ; 

And passing far all puny count 

Of million million 'powers of horses,' 

Dynamic energies immense, 

At work, asleep, alike intense ; 

Evasive, latent — never lost — 

That utterly from sight and sense 



320 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xviii. 

Can vanish, imperceptible 

As any disembodied Soul, 

Yet all the while about you dwell ; 

Until, a hundred ages hence, 

Their cycle — seeming proved so well — 

Of dark annihilation finished, 

They reappear, alive and whole 

With force and fervour undiminished ! — 

Think you all this, so far beyond 

Our powers perceptive, would not seem 

To us a blank your fancy fond 

Filled with a visionary dream 

As vain and baseless as you deem 

All in the blank beyond your own ? — 

O human Insect ! wiser — weaker — 

O suicidal secret-seeker, 

What if you left your ' types ' alone 

And joined our reckless rapturous Paean 

Of clear confiding trustfulness, 

That once so charmed the jovial Teian, 

Whose loves and lyre and brimming beaker 

Were all o'erthrown by one grape-stone 

That choked his life out, just as you 

Your life of life by laying stress 

On doubts perhaps as trivial too — 

Wresting despair with so much pain 

Out of a scheme not your poor brain 

Nor ours can compass or contain, 

Exhaust, unravel, or explain ! ' " — 

VIII. 

Still side by side the lovers rest 
Afloat in that sequestered nest. 



canto xviii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 321 

As close to Ranolf s, Amo's head 

Reclined, — her silky tresses spread 

Beneath, beyond his own — unrolled 

In black abundance uncontrolled, 

To the warm and moisture-drinking air — 

A splintered sunbeam lighting there, 

Upon his locks of amber gleamed, 

Which so contrasted — cushioned — seemed 

A moon where sable soft cloud streamed, 

Or golden lustrous coronet 

On funeral pall of velvet set. 

O'er rocks and trees, through light and shade 

His curious eyes unresting strayed ; 

But hers were fixed upon his face, 

Their choicest, dearest resting-place ! 

" O Rano — " such appeared to be 

The train of feelings half expressed 

In murmuring words that filled her breast : 

" Great is indeed my love for thee ! 

It seems almost a dream, even now, 

These lips — these eyes — this noble brow, 

These locks that like the day-break shine, 

Are mine, O mine — all — only mine ! 

How can I make you know and feel 

How much I love you ! how reveal 

My thirst for what my heart adores, 

The longing of my soul for yours ! — 

O best I love to lie awake, 

A lonely tender watch to keep 

Over my trusting own one's sleep, 

And think, how can my love be shown ! — 

What can I ever do to make 

Myself more worthy of his own ? 

21 



322 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xvm. 

And almost wish your welfare less 

That more might be the chance for me 

To make or mend the happiness, 

Health, comfort, I would have depend 

On me, your dearest, only friend ! 

To do some little more of good 

Than just preparing clothes or food ; — 

And I at times would almost flee 

Your dear caress and company, 

E'en when I know no need to go, 

Just to contrive — consider — do 

Some thing — some active thing for you ; 

As if the care itself were dear 

As him I cared for ! — all the same 

It is my joy to trust— revere — 

Look up to — as my ruler claim 

And sole protector, guide and guard, — 

Him o'er whose weal I watch and ward. 

So would I, with the parent's love 

The cherished child's affection prove ; 

So be the mother-bird to hold 

The young one in her fond wing's fold, 

Yet nestle like the fledgeling too 

Beneath the breast so sheltering, true : 

As if — my love, my lord, my life, 

It were not all to be your wife !— 

But I can never, never have 

Enough of that sweet love I crave ; 

Can never find or feign or steal 

Sufficient outlet to reveal 

The burning boundless love I feel I 

So could I anger — give you pain, 

To soothe, coax, comfort you again ; 



canto xviii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 323 

Would have you sick, to nurse and tend, 

And deeper love that way expend 

Upon you ; have you cruel, sweet ! 

So might I down before you throw 

Myself in self-abandonment 

More utter — not to frustrate so 

The working of your full intent, 

But to cling to you and entreat 

And clasp your knees and kiss your feet 

And mercy with hot tears implore, 

Only to feel myself the more 

Your own — all yours — life — body — soul — 

On whom no shadow of control 

Shall check your power at any hour 

To wreak your wildest whim or will — 

To ban — to bless — to save or kill ! 

So would I tend — implore — offend — 

Do anything your thoughts to fill, 

Share each emotion, every thrill, 

x\nd bear an all-absorbing part 

In all the beatings of your heart ! 

So should my Soul live, drink, and feed 

On yours — its ardour-kindling spring ! 

For are you not — indeed — indeed — 

The gulf into whose depths I fling 

My all of being ; plunged and tost 

In fathomless sweet fires, and lost 

In this immeasurable abyss 

And whirl of overwhelming bliss ! 

Yes, yes ! you know that you are this, 

My soul-devouring, lordly bird 

Of beauty ! O, with plumes so fair, 

Such stately step, commanding air 



1 



324 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xviii. 

And eyes so proud and free ! O whence, 
Whence shall I seek new life to drain, 
Win some existence back again, 
But from this heart of yours alone 
Which so consumes — absorbs my own ! — 

* *k % -h 

So dearest, you conceive how thence 

My foolish fancy, my pretence 

Of drowning came ; 'twas but to hear 

Your love in your lamenting — cheer 

My heart with your despair and feel 

The sweet sensations o'er me steal 

Of your fond efforts to restore 

And bring me back to life once more ! — 

But had I really died to-day 

Think not, dear friend ! my Soul set free — 

This ' Wairua ' — could have fled away 

To any realm where Spirits stray, 

Could ever have abandoned thee ! 

I know, I know ! distressed, forlorn, 

It could not from thy side be torn — 

Would long for — linger — only rest 

Near what in life it loved the best ! " 

IX. 

" You know it, dearest ! and just now, 
To see you looking forth and far, 
As bright, soft, bold and beautiful 
As some outstanding steady Star, 
With full assurance so serene, 
Such radiant love upon your brow — 
Might make the wretch most doubting, dull, 
Catch confidence from yours, my queen ! " 



canto xviii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 325 



" Nay, surely 'twere a little thing, 

My soul to yours should choose to cling ; 

Not stay to vex, as others do, 

Poor wretches who may break taboo " 

" So then you think, if this sweet breath 

Were stopped — these kindling eyes were closed- 

These lovely living limbs reposed 

In rigid, stirless, icy death, 

My loving Amo would not be 

Gone — perished — done with utterly ! " 

" Nay, what have these to do with me — 
With me who speak to — love you so ? 
How strange a fancy ! — tell me then 
For you know all things, you white men, 
What course my Spirit, down below, 
If to that land before your own 
It chanced to go (I know, behind 
It could not, would not stay alone !) 
Should take with least delay to find 
And fly to your dear heart, and show 
The deep and deathless love, I know, 
It would be burning to bestow ? " — 

" What can 1 tell you ! you know more, 
Dearest, yourself — as much at least \ 
Do you remember, once before 
I told you, love, I was no priest, 
No learned Tdhunga — not I " 



326 Rajzolf and Amohia. [canto xviii. 

" But tell me what your wise men say, 
And all about us when we die ; 
You laughed at us, I know, that day, 
Too proud to give a true reply ! " 

" Our wise men, Amo ! — sooth to say, the most 

Of these, just now seem doing as one day 

A great white War-chief did to find a way 

O'er shallow sea-flats when the ford was lost. 

Straight through the rising tide his band he sent 

In all directions radiating round, 

Resolved to follow him who furthest went, 

And footing most secure the longest found. 

So seem our Sages wandering, all and each. 

Some struggle through the weltering waves and sink, 

Still panting for the shore they never reach ; 

Some plod along complacently and think 

Already they enjoy the wished-for beach; 

Some crouch upon a rock-reef close at hand 

Whence leads no path, and swear the vaunted land 

Is but a film that dims the seeker's eye, 

A passing cloud that mocks the groping band ; 

Content to perish where gulf-girt they stand 

They hug their barren rock with dreary cheer — 

Confess to no confinement — vow they hear 

No wanderer's wail — no plaintive breeze's sigh, 

No moanings of the melancholy main : 

Life after death — that any Spirit can 

Exist apart from Matter — God or Man — 

To them a dream, how visionary — vain ! 

What their minute sensorium may contain, 

What they could touch, taste, smell or hear or see, 

Is all that in the Universe can be ! 



canto xvni.] Ranolf and Amohia. 327 

Did ever brain conceive an idler notion ! — 
Might they not just as well — these hardy men- 
Strive to compress the blue tremendous Ocean 
In all its dim far-sparkling boundlessness 
Into yon yellow calabash ! And when 
They failed — declare with confidence no less, 
With self-complacent doggedness insist, 
That all it would not hold did ne'er exist : 
That no reflections on its outer side, 
No dancing day-gleams from the waters wide. 
Are any signs that Seas or Oceans roll 
Beyond the circlet of that narrow bowl ? " 

u Well, that I cannot understand, you know ; 
But tell me what you think yourself is true ; 
That I am certain must be right — and so 
Will I believe, and only trust in you." 

" In me, dear Child ! — but that indeed 
Were trusting to a broken reed ! " 

" That reed no whit the less shall be 
A staff of trust and truth for me ! " 

" Well then, suppose your eyes you close, 
And on my shoulder rest your head, 
While lasts, my sweet ! this noontide heat, 
And that shrill music sunshine -bred ; 
And try to sleep while I devise 
Some answer wondrous deep and wise 
To my fond querist, little dreaming 
What mysteries questions may comprise 
To her so plain and simple-seeming." 



328 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xviii. 



" There— then ; I will be still as death—" 
And soon the soft-recurring breath 
Long-drawn, and breast that gently heaves, 
Tell how the life that gushed and glanced 
So brightly, lies in sleep entranced — 
Sleep, placid, light and infantine — 
Serene as those green-imaged leaves 
That up through crystal pointing shine, 



canto xix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 329 



CANTO THE NINETEENTH. 



1. 

And what reflections took their way 
Through Ranolf's mind as thus he lay 
Pondering on Amo's questions, while the Maid 
So lightly slumbered, lulled in noontide rest 
So still, the golden spots that flecked its shade 
Moved only with her moving half-hid breast ? 

" What must I teach her? how impress 
This pliant Spirit's willingness ? 
On this unlettered Soul so white 
What characters am I to write ? 
What truths in sooth have I to tell 
To one whose native instincts might, 
For aught I know, teach me as well ? — 
Where am I ? let me run again 
O'er facts indubitable and plain. 
With nothing else have I to do 
But what I know or feel is true. — 

11. 
" Behind this Universe — this train 
Of grandest beauties, on the brain 



330 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xix. 

Painted in such mysterious wise 
How much is real none know — there lies 
The unknown region undenied 
Where (but in their effects descried) 
Efficient Causes all reside. 
But if all subtlest Forces — those 
Perception grasps and Science knows, 
That work in Nature's myriad shows, 
All tend to one, and one alone — 
A truth that each day clearer grows ; 
Must not the mystic Fountain, whence 
That one proceeds, transcending Sense, 
The primal Source of power, unknown 
And unperceived — be One as well, 
Though nought can yet its nature tell ? 

u Say you, there is no proof nor need 
Of Cause — that 'tis a dream indeed 
Begot by habit — but a vain 
Conception of the human brain ! — 
'Tis answered — the idea of Cause 
Is based on fundamental laws 
Of human thought — with all that live 
The notion is intuitive. 

" You say — we can no more conceive 

A thing that no beginning knew, 

But has from all eternity 

Existed — than a thing that grew 

Or sprang from Nothing ! — Well — 'tis true, 

Both inconceivable must be : 

Yet I, for my part, must believe — 



canto xix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 331 

Most surely feel — while by the first 
Our purest reason at the worst 
Is merely overwhelmed — surpassed — 
Tis jarred — revolted by the last. 



in. 

" One cause we are conscious of — must own 

Can to no Matter be assigned, — 

The Will, that in our human Mind 

Sets Thought in motion when we please. 

Be it to demonstration shown 

That Thought, once set in motion, works 

Through molecules no sight can seize — 

Changes in brain material — still, 

That motive force, say what you will, 

That primal Impulse we can lend 

To subtlest matter every hour — 

Deep in the Unapparent lurks, 

Does our acutest sense transcend, 

Yet somehow lies within our power. 

" Is it so senseless then, to hold, 

This Will may some faint hint unfold, 

Of what in its unboundedness 

Is different still beyond all guess — 

The Infinite Force — unknown — untold 

That still creating, still o'erseeing, 

Still sets the glories we behold 

For ever whirling into Being — 

The Will Divine— First Cause of All, 

Which God we in our ignorance call ? — 



33 2 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xix. 

IV. 

" Be all that as it may — for me 
I hold the mind so made, of course 
It must assume the primal Force 
That causes Mind, must mental be ! 
And does not one strange fact proclaim 
The power that framed the mighty plan 
Of Mind and Universe the same ? 
Nay, prove this bounded Mind of Man 
In close accordance made, or grown, 
With that all-boundless Mind unknown — 
Faint spark from its omnific Flame ? — 
A thousand years that human Mind 
Its subtle sciences designed 
Of numbers — angles — ratios — lines — 
Complex ingenious symbol-signs — 
Pure brainwork as the wildest dream ! 
Then, when the long research of Time, 
For Man's rapt gaze withdraws the veil 
That hides the Universe sublime, 
To his amazement, lo ! the scheme 
Of the majestic fabric stands 
Before him, fitting to the Scale 
So long prepared by his own hands ; 
In strictest keeping ranged and wrought 
With fine gradations, ratios, rules, 
Spun out of his unaided Thought 
So many an age before, and taught 
As abstract Science in his schools. 
'Tis as if God himself blazed out 
A moment there ! beyond all doubt 
Perceived — the still small voice profound 
Speaking for once with trumpet- sound ! 



canto xix. J Ranolf and Amohia. 333 



" One boundless Mind first Cause of All — 

That mighty fact not Physics — no, 

Nor Metaphysics can o'erthrow ; 

Our subtlest faculties impress 

Our Reason favours it, no less. 

So far seems plain. But must we call 

That Cause all good — that infinite Will 

Omnipotent? with Evil still 

So rampant ? even the babe unborn 

By reckless Sires' diseases torn ? 

The God-made cat before your hearth 

Torturing the God-made mouse for mirth ? 

" Well, these things outrage all our sense 
Of Justice — Love — Benevolence 
Or Veneration ; moral powers 
That most exalt this soul of ours 
In Being's scale ; the organs, these 
High sentiments, whereby alone 
Perhaps 'twas meant that we should seize, 
Become impressed by — apprehend 
As much as need be dimly known 
Of Essences that Sense transcend ; 
These instincts — surely in us made 
Ere birth in every varying grade — 
Joined to man's structure from the first 
(That brain, which they so shape and mould- 
By them, not they by it, controlled) 
Surely as hunger is or thirst — 
These instincts, so God-made, we say — 



334 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xix. 

Make what allowances you list 
For Evil's uses, ends, excuses — 
Are jarred, revolted every way 
That any Evil should exist! 

" What then ! why should the Power that gave 

To man that menial standard, found 

As true, complete, as wish could crave 

To gauge the sensuous Universe 

As its majestic shows unfurled — 

Be deemed to mock, as stinted, bound 

By some defect, some flaw unsound, 

Man's dearer need with any worse 

A standard of his moral World ? 

Our Love, distinctly his own dower 

As is that calculating power — 

As surely our one gauge, the best — 

His spiritual Creation's test ; 

Why should it be less true, complete ? 

Why should it only prove a cheat ? 



VI. 

" Again — the Will Divine must be 
Denoted by some power at least 
Of overmastering energy, 
Throughout the Universe we see 
Or that we see not ; one whose sway 
Is active — in the ascendant — free — 
Ever increasing and increased ; 
Not one that nourish how it may — 
Is worsted — weaker — giving way. 
In the material World, we know, 



canto xix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 335 

Though Action and Re-action show- 
Equal and needed both ; although 
Both motion and inertness seem 
Balanced — essential to the scheme ; 
Yet so-called Matter, in the last 
Result of that harmonious strife, 
Is whirled into victorious life ; 
Resistance in the glorious sum 
Of things, is overborne, surpassed — 
If still renewed, is still o'ercome. 
Well, what results is what is willed — 
The intended — that which is fulfilled. 
So in the moral World — the Good 
Is counteracted and withstood 
By Evil ; yet this last, 'tis clear 
(The matter of the moral sphere) 
Is found, as the long centuries roll, 
Still more and more subdued — outdone ; 
Of those two forces, on the whole 
The losing and the lessening one. 
Although the contest ceases never, 
Though nothing may the two dissever, 
Though Evil may the stuff supply 
Good works on — here has being by ; 
Yet, as Time flies, who can deny, 
For guerdon of the World's endeavour, 
Good triumphs — there is Progress ever ! — 
No doubt, the single Will Divine 
Decrees and works both powers ; as, when 
A rower directs a pair of sculls, 
With one hand backs, the other pulls — 
Both acts are caused by one design. 
So Evil seconds Good ; but then 



\ 



336 Ranolf a7id Amohia. [canto xix. 

The most triumphant element, 
The victor principle, must best 
That Universal Will suggest, 
Best argue the Supreme. Intent. 

" So even in the World we see, 
Good grows — and grows unceasingly : 
This Will must therefore be confessed — 
As far as our Experience shows, 
Or finite faculties disclose 
Its working — on the whole to tend 
Triumphantly to some great end 
In harmony with that high test 
Itself first planted in Man's breast, 
With this intent among the rest. 

VII. 

" But why, because that mighty Will 
Cannot be said, within the bound 
Of our perceptions to fulfil 
All that the test, so true and sound, 
Demands — insists on ; why declare 
Its wondrous working ceases where 
Our poor perceptions do ? — why fear 
To say that what it breaks off here 
It perfects in some other sphere ? 
Why carry through ail Time and Space 
The flaw we only know has place 
Within the narrow field we trace ? 
Why this avowed, yet finite Wrong, 
Into the Infinite prolong ? — 
More true to Reason 'tis, to trust 
That standard of the Good and Just 



canto xix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 337 

And Loving— trust its dictates too. 

If this world wrongs that standard true, 

It wrongs God's Love, God's Right no less ; 

That wrong his justice must redress : 

And how ? but by some other state 

Where compensation must await 

All wrongs endured by small or great ; 

All Love's requirements be supplied — 

The God-given standard justified? 



VIII. 

" Aye truly ! and as when by mere appliance 
Of that brain-fashioned scale of Abstract Science 
To the Star-worlds on high, diviners bold 
Have sometimes found a gap — declared a flaw 
In our serenest dance of sister spheres ; 
And with a god-like confidence foretold 
The missing Planet needed by their law : 
And when the optic tube, redoubling sight, 
Comes in the course of long-revolving years 
To test the startling prophecy aright — 
Lo ! there the cinders of the crumbled World, 
Of proper weight, in fitting orbit hurled ! 
Or down in some obscure recess of Space, 
Lo ! there the lurking lost one they will trace, 
And in some shining crowd you least suspect, 
The furtive golden fugitive detect! — 
Even so — when Love, that test diviner far, 
Finds mightier flaws the moral fabric mar, 
With full assurance may he not foretell 
Some compensating cure must somewhere dwell- 
Some good that shall the sense of wrong dispel ? 

22 









138 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xix. 

And if immortal Life and nothing less 

Be needed that deficience to redress, 

Is it a splendour. of too vast an orb, 

Too bright for those whose gloom it should absorb — 

Too grand a boon by Man to be enjoyed, 

With his material kinship to the clod ?— 

Nay — 'tis a speck to Him who left the void ; 

A World to us — a tiny Asteroid 

To the infinite Munificence of God ! 

"Well then — through all that glittering mystery 

Man sees that each demand brings its supply ; 

Responsive forces each stray force correct, 

All waste restored, all aberrations checked ; 

Till perfect in all parts before him stands 

The mighty structure from the Master's hands. 

With no harsh note — no inharmonious noise, 

Vast Worlds in myriads wing their flight sublime ; 

Their balanced whirl no chance, no change destroys ; 

But every pebble finds its counterpoise, 

And every Star comes rounding up to time ! — 

So were the Spirit-World found perfect too 

Could we its whole completed cycle view ; 

No wrong its neutralizing right would miss ; 

No sorrow some equivalent of bliss ; 

And every Soul whate'er its make or mood, 

Though long or short the circuit it pursued, 

Come brightening back at last to happiness and good ! 

— " Enough — enough ! I feel, I see 
The Cheerful still the True must be ! 
Look up, my love ! nor longer keep 
That sweet pretence of trustful sleep : 



canto xix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 339 

1 know beneath each full-orbed lid, 
The coiled-up living lustre hid, 
Lurks ready for an innocent dart, 
Not aimed at, sure to hit, the heart ; 
And round the placid lips the while, 
Dawns the faint twilight of a smile. 
Then listen, love ! and let me try 
To queries wide some weak reply ! " 

IX. 

So then he told her of one Spirit for ever 

Unknown ; invisible — intangible — 

Inaudible ; whose nature none can tell ; 

Subtler than Thought in essence ; and yet never 

To be disproved — discarded — disavowed ; 

Educing Good with infinite endeavour 

From Evil for some mystic end allowed ; 

Whose work, Mankind, would be a cheat detected, 

A palpable abortion and confusion 

(Truly an inconceivable conclusion !) 

If not in some serener Sphere perfected : 

For He was good — all Life and Time proclaimed it, 

Where good was ever in the slow ascendant ; 

And that blind bias — Conscience, as we named it — 

Towards what seems good and better — though dependent 

On other powers, for knowledge, be it granted, 

Of what is good and better — was implanted 

Within our brain at first, and could not be 

Belied or outraged by Himself who framed it ; 

So must the Evil and the wrong be righted 

In some great World of bliss we could not see, 

Where suffering innocence would be requited, 

And ties of rent affections reunited. 



340 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xix. 

And this, which Reason pleaded for — the best 

And brightest of that Spirit's emanations — 

Souls in their very structure, revelations 

Of his high nature on their own impressed, 

Had felt and died for ; on the facts insisting 

Their souls were forced and fashioned to attest — 

The certain Life immortal, to remove 

And remedy all mortal woes existing — 

And that supreme predominance of Love ! 

And therefore they who most their Souls may nourish 

On Love, and hearken to his high decreeing — 

Doing all right and every wrong repressing, 

With pure self-sacrifice for others' blessing — 

Must be the least unlike that Power supernal — 

Most with that Will in their poor way agreeing ; 

Must be the fittest to survive and flourish 

In that transcendant Sphere of Life eternal — 

Of ever blest and beatific Being. 

x. 
Poor, vague, and disappointing merely 
These reasonings to the listening Maid appeared ; 
Scarce lighting up that shadowy Life more clearly 
Than the rude faith wherein she had been reared. 
Some simple tale of pathos and pure wonder, 
The founts divine of pity and awe unsealing, 
With death's great mystery mystically dealing, 
Her mental clouds had sooner rent asunder — 
More strongly stirred her fancy and her feeling. 
But all was Gospel from his lips that fell ; 
His tongue more gifted than with Prophet's spell ; 
And what he felt might well for her suffice, 
Who, free from anxious fear too curious, nice, 



canto xix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 341 

Held this no theme to handle too austerely, 

Wholly absorb, or trouble her too nearly ! 

Her lovelit bosom knew no listless pining 

For future worlds or lives beyond divining, 

With so much glory in the present shining : 

And Ranolf had no taste for doubts intrusive, 

Nor chafed too much at reasons inconclusive. 

The mystery of the mighty Universe 

He loved to play with as a subtle jest, 

As children with conundrums — none the worse 

Because the answer could not soon be guessed. 

While its reality was a pure joy 

That well might heart and life and love employ — 

A bliss no doubt, no mystery could destroy. 

And though he showed himself content no more 

Even now than in old student-days of yore 

To practise and abide by what he saw 

Even then might be for Man a settled Law ; 

He could not, while he reasoned, quite forget 

The possible truth so long before descried, 

Which of itself had made him feel as yet 

How slight his power to be that Maiden's guide — 

That time-developed secret of the soul, 

How the conviction of its glorious goal 

And ultimate high destiny divine, 

Is haply not designed to be the dower 

Of any play of intellectual power — 

No cold deduction Logic's subtlest line 

Could dimly draw from shadowy postulate, 

Mental or moral axiom overfme, 

Admitted or disputed, as innate 

Or for purblind Experience to acquire ; 



34 2 Ranolf and AmoJiia. [canto xix. 

No theme to wrangle on with wordy strife : 

But down — far down — in gulfs of Spirit profound, 

Which action and keen passion only sound — 

Lies, a pure gem for purified desire ; 

But rather, perfect gold by patience won, 

Must by severer Alchemy be run 

Out of each Soul plunged in the actual fire, 

And smelted in the crucible of Life. 

Xo ! he could not forget that Truths like these 

May lurk secreted for the Soul to seize 

Out of the chaos of her own emotions — 

Heights of celestial rapture — depths like Ocean's 

Of sacred sorrow ; mystic yearnings speech 

Is speechless for. no intellect can reach ; 

Divinely-darkling inmost sympathies, 

Dimly discerned — awakened — half-exprest, 

Haply by the blind might of Music best, 

Echoing Infinitude ; ' strange melodies ' 

That lustrous Song-Child languished to impart, 

Breathing his boundless Love through boundless Art — 

Impassioned Seraph from his mint of gold 

By our full-handed Master-Maker flung ; 

By him whose lays, like eagles, still upwheeling 

To that shy Empyrean of high feeling, 

Float steadiest in the luminous fold on fold 

Of wonder-cloud around its sun-depths rolled. 

Whether he paint, all patience and pure snow, 

Pompilia's fluttering innocence unsoiled ; — 

In verse, though fresh as dew, one lava-flow 

In fervour — with rich Titian-dyes aglow — 

Paint Paracelsus to grand frenzy stung, 

Quixotic dreams and fiery quackeries foiled ; — 



canto xix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 343 

Or — of Sordello's delicate Spirit unstrung 

For action, in its vast Ideal's glare 

Blasting the Real to its own dumb despair, — 

On that Venetian water-lapped stair-flight, 

In words condensed to diamond, indite 

A lay dark-splendid as star-spangled Night : — 

Still — though the pulses of the world-wide throng 

He wields, with racy life blood beat so strong — 

Subtlest Assertor of the Soul in song ! — 

— No ! with that possible Soul-truth full in sight, 

'Twas little disappointment, less surprise, 

To Ranolf that he read in Amo's eyes 

Not all the satisfaction and delight 

She looked for when the queries first she pressed 

Which he with more delight and greater zest 

Would doubtless, if he could, have set at rest. 

But all these things apart — to them the Real 
The Present seemed so rapturous an Ideal, 
It seemed almost a sin to speculate 
Or spend a thought upon another state ; 
Seemed flat ingratitude to Him who spread 
A banquet so superb his guests before, 
To ask, when on its dainties they had fed, 
What his great bounty had provided more ? 
While sitting at his luxury-laden board, 
To guess what fair festivities the Lord 
Of the redundant feast had yet in store, 
Music or dance to follow when 'twas o'er. 

XT. 

And so to lighter themes they gaily turn ; 
And " Rano ! when shall I begin to learn " — 



344 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xix. 

Said then the lively girl, " the white man's art 
Of seeing talk — and sending, word for word, 
To distant eyes unspoken speech unheard ? " — 
And Ranolf straightway hastened to impart 
A first fond lesson in. the mystery deep 
Of letters — guiding that confiding hand 
To trace huge characters on marbled sand, 
Or clean smooth claystone of some yellow steep ; 
With many a toying frolicsome reproof, 
And merry chiding, when the stalk of fern 
And taper fingers seemed resolved to turn 
Some curve from what was aimed at far aloof; 
And both would join in joyous outcry wild 
At each great blunder of the Woman-Child ; . 
With childlike guerdon of a kiss no less 
Rewarded at each wonderful success. 
But such a keen and kindling sympathy 
Between their hearts and minds electric played, 
Both Taught and Teacher could delighted see 
How swiftly and how sweetly, so conveyed, 
The pupil would imbibe that mystery ; 
How soon that lovely Learner would o'ercome 
The task of noting down in symbols dumb 
The speech the learner with her loving smile 
Was teaching to the Teacher all the while. 

XII. 

And now, upon a knoll beside the Lake, 

Embowered with trees their resting-place they make ; 

The savoury light repast was over, won 

By Manu's indefatigable gun, 

Whose echo through the day they oft had caught 

Faint from the glens or o'er the waters brought. 



canto xix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 345 

Their young elastic spirits they resigned 

To the soft hour's delicious influence, 

And the full consciousness of all the bliss 

Of love like theirs in such a life as this ; 

As sweet and free to their enamoured sense 

As the pure air without a sound or sigh 

They breathed in its sunlit serenity. 

The solitude — the stillness so intense — 

The blue ethereal lake— the liquid sky — 

The silent banks and bluffs that watched around ; — 

The silent beams that broadly visible streamed 

Through limpid veils of atmosphere, and gleamed 

Along the silent hills that looked, spell-bound, 

As if they felt the shadows o'er them grow, 

From every fold and crevice creeping slow 

And linking to exclude each slanting ray 

That slumberous on their burnished shoulders lay; — 

Or where those faint cliffs seemed in fading day 

Refining to a vision far away — 

Soft tints aerial — tender streaks of shade, 

Or mottling stains their painted verdure made ; — 

All was so rapt and mute and motionless — 

The pictured dream of lonely loveliness 

Diffused o'er hearts that needed no such balm 

The soft contagion of its soothing calm ! 

Twin hearts — mere atoms in the wide expanse — 

They seemed absorbed in its voluptuous trance ; 

Yet 'twas the rapturous love that through them thrilled 

That rather into Nature's frame instilled 

Their own impassioned warmth, until it glowed 

As fit for spirits in bliss some high divine abode ! 



346 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xix. 



Now Sunset's hushed and awful Splendour fills 

The solemn scene ; — transfigures heaven and earth 

With luminous glory as in strange new-birth ; 

Clothes with vermilion woods the Eastern hills ; 

And where the Lake should spread its glassy length 

Leaves a great hollow of one hue — blood-red 

As the mysterious garments round Him rolled 

Who travelling in the greatness of his strength, 

In glory of apparel unalloyed, 

Though stained like one who doth the winepress tread, 

From Edom and from Bozrah came of old. 

A single bar of light, a silver thread — 

Stretched o'er the incarnadined and hollow void — 

Betrays the viewless surface. On each hand 

See how the headlands glow in solid gold ! 

See in the midst that mighty Mountain stand 

One ruby ! — deepening off through bluer shade 

And bluer, towards the North the hills and sky 

Lose more and more of that ensanguined dye — 

Through all the purples of the pansy fade ; 

And in their darkest, most impressive gloom, 

Rival the richest violet's loveliest bloom. 

And Amo felt the evening ; — felt 

The solemn tenderness that dwelt 

In all that gorgeous flood of pride 

And splendour, spreading far and wide 

Into her kindred spirit melt : 

And nestling close to Ranolf's side 

As half in sport and half in fear — 

" Hush ! " — whispered she, quite serious-eyed — 

" Some awful Spirit must be near ! — 



canto xix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 347 

What is it else that from the deep 

Abyss o'erhead, seems so to creep 

And creep — and ever nearer steal, 

As though the heavens above us bending 

Were closing round us — slow descending ! — 

Not evil though, that Spirit, I feel ! 

But like some gentle boundless arm 

Encircling us — in shelter warm 

Infolding us from hurt or harm ; 

Close to us, yet unheard, unseen : 

Just as I felt you bending down 

One morn above our couch of fern, 

Which you had left so soon, to learn 

What bird it was whose strange new cry 

('Twas that blue crane with bristly crown — 

You recollect ?) we heard so nigh ; 

And I, unknowing your return 

Lay half-awake nor wooing sleep ; 

With eyes just lightly shut to keep 

Your image there with clearer glow, 

And play with it in fancy so ; 

In dreamy bliss — such full content — \ 

Somehow as calm and innocent, 

It seemed, as when in infant days 

Upon a mother's breast I leant ; 

So loath was I my lids to raise ; 

Or my fantastic joy resign 

Till I should be no more alone ! — 

But you had stol'n towards me unknown ; 

And though I neither saw nor heard, 

I felt your face approach my own : 

Your lips were almost touching mine, 

But did not — and no limb you stirred ; 



\4& Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xix. 

I neither heard nor felt your breath, 

For you were silent — still as death ; 

And yet I knew your presence dear, 

I knew that it was you so near, 

Pausing before you would impress 

To wake me quite, some light caress 

Of fond and playful tenderness. 

But that was Love — made me so wise, 

To see without the use of eyes ; 

And know who 'twas did by me stand, 

Without the aid of ear or hand : 

No tongue to speak — no limb to move, 

Was needed for my heart to prove 

That near approach of Love to Love ! " — 

"Yes— that was Love ! and this, as well, 
This solemn, sweet, absorbing spell, 
This charm diffused o'er heaven and earth, 
In Love may have its hidden birth ! 
For all that Reason — Science — guess, 
It stands a mystery, none the less ; — 
A symbol, why not so designed 
To do just what we find it do ? 
Impress upon the human Mind 
A soothing sense of Love as true, 
As warm and true as mine and thine, 
But infinite — and all divine ! — 

XIII. 

" But see ! how through the floating, thin, 
And tender purple gloom, one star 
Is wildly throbbing — faint and far ! 
And lost in liquid twilight, look, 



canto xix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 349 

Where others lurk its depths within ! — 

Come, dearest, then ! in yonder nook 

See how, from its sun-smitten slopes 

The snowy-crimson trees outthrow 

Their sturdy stems that downward grow, 

All firmly laced, securely braced 

And cabled to the rocks with ropes 

Of their own branches, backward bent 

Along each coalescing trunk, 

Half in its rugged column sunk 

As up to roots again they run, 

Stem, branch, and root, distinct yet one ! 

As if they saw and would prevent, 

With conscious aim intelligent, 

The great tree's risk so imminent 

Of slipping down the steep descent. 

But does the risk produce the aim ? — 

On level ground no cables sprout : 

Or if in some rare case thrown out — 

Perchance where casual winds create 

A partial risk, but not the same — 

The listless cable seems to fall 

Unreaching earth ; its would-be roots, 

A tuft of red abortive shoots. 

Adaptive Nature's powers are great ; 

And her organic products mate 

And match each shifting change and chance 

Of inorganic Circumstance ; 

Set each to each in ordered dance, 

With a discriminating might 

Of blindness keener than all sight ; 

And kindling here, and quenching there 

At random — but with luck so rare 



150 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xix. 

And mutual, ever full and fair 

The cycle of Existence leave. 

The trees that could their cable weave 

Might stand — and those that could not — fall ; 

I wonder what the cause they call, 

Gave this and not some other tree 

That cunning first propensity 

For veering cables out at all ! 

No matter, sweet, since there at last. 

The pendent trees are anchored fast. 

Suppose a fern-filled mat we sling 

To one, up high, of those that fling 

Their branches out most straight and stout; 

So fine the night we need devise 

No roof against those loving skies ! 

How pleasant there to lie awake 

And try if any glimmering sheen 

Or shimmer of the sleeping Lake 

So far beneath — through all the green, 

The latticed screen of boughs between, 

A leafy labyrinth — could be seen ! 

How sweet to lie up there so high, 

And half asleep, so drowsily, 

To all the faint night-noises hark 

That make the hush more deep ; and mark, 

Watching the dim o'erbrooding sky, 

How one by one and two by two 

The moving stars come blinking through 

The unmoving leaves — chink after chink — 

Slow-pacing ! — or if you should sleep 

I might alone a vigil keep 

Sometimes for mere delight ; and think 

What mighty Suns we use to link 



canto xix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 351 

Our tiny memories with ; and how 

Keen Sirius and red-flashing fierce 

Aldebaran that deep Space may pierce, 

And have no other end just now 

For me, but with familiar rays 

To call back far-off scenes and days : 

How the faint Pleiads are less clear 

Than fond regards they bring — so dear ! 

And old Orion upside down, 

Mythic Boeotian huntsman brown — 

Though here such different names he own, 

Shines grand as his antique renown ; 

And flings abroad his giant limbs 

In daring splendour nothing dims ! 

Although head foremost towards the sea 

In all his glittering panoply 

He plunges, eager to return 

To those dear glorious lands below, 

Far down below, where long ago 

I first beheld his ardours burn ! — 

And we will settle, nestling there 

Which way to-morrow we shall fare ; 

If back to strange Orakei's stream 

Whose dark-green banks are chequered bright 

With many a gaudy scar and seam 

Sulphureous yellow — red and white, 

Where over crusted strata grey 

A hundred hot-springs steam and play : 

Or shall we to the Lake hard by 

Of woody Oka-reka hie, 

That mocks you with deceitful mien, 

By loving cliffs encompassed round — 

Fair captive, so resigned, serene, 



352 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xix. 

Lulled in a seeming sleep profound ; 
Yet all the while slips off unseen 
In secret diving underground ; 
And bursts out into open day 
A beautiful Cascade, they say, 
All flash and foam, a mile away ! 
A sudden startling change, complete 
From mimic death to leaping life, 
As yours, my wily, winsome cheat, 
This morn when starting to your feet 
At touch of that rude ready knife ! " 

What answer ? but a laugh of fond assent 
From her whose head upon his shoulder leant ; 
As, gaily springing up, the Maid addrest 
Herself to that delightful task — to aid 
In building birdlike such a pendulous nest 
Mid twisted stems over the waters thrown, 
As charmed with thoughts of airy rest 
Lightly leaf-canopied and star-inrayed ; 
Toyed with by tender touches of the Moon ; 
Bare to each influence of the fine-flecked skies ; 
And yet secure as ever flung the boon 
Of sweet unconsciousness o'er lovers' eyes — 
Yet in secluded luxury uplaid 
As ever rest enjoyed by lovers lone 
In any green serenity of shade. 



XIV. 

So through the fervid Autumn's lingering glow 

But Life and Love's young Spring-time ; revelling so 



canto xix.] Ranolf and Amohia. 353 

In Eden-scenes as lovely-strange 

As to the lover's power to change 
All scenes to Edens, ever yet displayed 

An Eden ready-made : 
So, custom-licensed to be blest and bless 
In luxury of lawful lawlessness, 

Did our unbridled bridal pair 
Pass their wild-honeymoon no moon 
Restricted — and, arriving all too soon, 
Homeward to Roturua slowly strayed. 



23 



354 Ranolf and Amokia. [canto xx, 



CANTO THE TWENTIETH. 



The clashing of Tempests ! 
The tumult of Tempests ! 
To the West and the North 

On their terrible path 
They are rioting forth ; 
And they crash altogether in a whirlwind of wrath 
Against the high fortress that bristles and towers 
In the midst of the torn Rotorua. How cowers 
The scared Lake ! — how it shrieks — do you hear it ? 
As the lightnings spear it, 
And savagely chase 
In the race 
Of affright 
The mad-fleeing flakes of the wind-levelled spray ; 
Or shrivel, in flame-sheets how blindingly bright, 
Black tangible night 
To blue hideous day ! — 
O the clashing, the flashing, the tumult, the jar, 
Of the gathered confederate tempests of War 
Over Mdkoi-ahia ! 



canto xx.] Ranolf and Amohia. 355 



See, see you the glare, 
O Riri, the glare ? — 
How the flames leap in air, 
Bloodstaining the leaden-hued murkiness scowling 
O'er the high Western hills where the tempests are howling, 
Paparata, Waimiku, with thunderclouds growling ? — 
— No fire, no flashes, 
Erelong shall be there, 
No life-spark or love-light on mountain — in vale ; 
Not a sound of despair, 
Sorrow-breath, 
Sob of wail — 
But the blackness of ashes, 
The silence of Death, 
Over Mokoi-ahia. 



3- 
Come forth, my Canoe, 
My glorious Canoe ! — 
Right over the war-boats of Tangi, 
Right over their gunwales though fiercely they strive, 

Thou shalt drive, thou shalt drive, 
While the paddle-beat foam-waves enwreathe us, ha ! ha !- 
Resistless — remorseless — right onward — no check — 
Thou shalt tread down and trample each plunging wreck ! 
Thou shall ride 
In thy pride 
O'er its hollow inside, 
While the hissing wave fills it beneath us, ha ! ha !- — 
O my tearing, all-daring, unsparing Canoe — 



356 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xx. 

O the might, 

The delight 
Of your conquering crew ! — 
What a tustle shall wait them, 
A triumph elate them, 
A blood-revel sate them, 

At Mdkoi-ahia ! 

4- 
Weave the great Chain — 
The great living Chain ! — 
Over hill, over plain, 
Round and round, high and low, 
It shall go, it shall go, 
The beleaguering Chain round the Fort of the foe ! — 

I-ara ! I-ara ! — 
Firm shoulder to shoulder, every inch of the ground — 
Strongly woven — well-knit — all the links true and sound — 
Around and around shall the great Chain be wound ! 
High and low 
It shall go 
Round the fear-smitten foe ! — 
Soft-stealing — close-hemming — all-stemming — death- 
dealing — 
O the leaguer of heroes 
At Mokoi-ahia ! 



5- 
How fretful the cries, 
The plaintive wild cries 
Of crimson-billed terns when in bright azure weather 
They flock wheeling in from all parts of the skies, 
Confusedly fluttering and huddling together 



canto xx. I Ranolf and A mohia. 357 

To dabble and scramble for food in the water ! — 
Rotorua's proud islet shall see such a muster ; 
From the regions all round so our victims shall cluster ! 
So shall they 
On that day 
Crowd in helpless array, 
So be gathered at once all together for slaughter ! 
Wild-crying — no flying — all dying — no trace 
Of their race 
Shall be left on earth's face ! — 
Thus our foes shall be crushed 
And the battle-roar hushed 
Over Mokoi-ahia ! — 

Such was the purport of the measured roar, 

A warrior-crowd by Rotorua's shore 

From time to time across its waters flung, 

Their wild excitement growing as they sung. 

The song foreshadowed vengeance long-desired ; 

Visions of victory hate and hope inspired — 

But vengeance doubtful — victory yet to win. 

One singer fierce in savage solo first, 

Within the space the circling throng left clear, 

Darting about with madly brandished spear, 

The ranting wild war-ditty would begin ; 

Then as they all struck in, the chorus strong, 

Now full and furious, with a sea-like burst 

Of guttural thunder grandly rolled along ; 

Now at the war-chaunt's pauses, interspersed 

Its short harsh sighs of deep-lunged expiration, 

Such as a pavier in a London street 

Gives when his ponderous hammer strikes the stones • — 

All panting forth in unison complete 



35 8 Ranolf mid Amohia. [canto xx. 

Hoarse harmony of heartfelt execration ! 
Crash after crash of deep earthshaking groans, 
Whose echoes through the folded mountains tore — 
Escaping monsters, plunging on to hide 
In their recesses ; nor even then forbore 
But far and farther off faint bellowings plied. 



n. 
This storm of war by Kangapo was brewed : 
: Twas he had roused this raging multitude 
Of Uri-wera, Nati-porou — all 
The restless spirits turbulent and rude 
Amid the neighbouring tribes, South, East or West 
He found, or made, obedient to his call : 
For stung by Tangi's cool disdain — his breast 
Black with foul bile that Amo could arrest 
His schemes by flight ; and worst, that such a prize 
Should by this chance-sent Stranger be possessed — 
One whom he would so heartily despise, 
But that he hated him so much, and feared, — 
Aye, feared ! — he could no more endure those eyes 
That met his own so calmly and appeared 
To look right through his soul and life of lies, 
So high and safe above his sorceries — 
More than the hound the Moon's unmoving gaze 
Fixed on him mutely till he howls — and feels, 
How through his canine consciousness it steals — 
The fascination of those, searching rays, 
That read his inmost thoughts, know all his ways, 
And fix him all the more, the more he bays : — 
Stung with such rabid jealousy and pain, 
Less for his own loss than the other's gain : — 



canto xx.] Ranolf and Amohia. 359 

For he was of a nature Hate could move 

More deeply even than successful love ; 

And even his Love burnt livid, like the flames 

Of liquids lit for joy in Christmas games, 

With bitter selfishness 'twas so imbued ; 

While Hate that could through Love's triumphant mood 

Survive, on baffled Love would surely prey 

And batten into boundless life and play : — 

With all these feelings fuming thus, the Priest 

Had sought out Tangi's many secret foes 

And hollow friends ; these — most in peace retained 

By dread of Tangi, and as great at least 

Of powers himself from his dark Atuas gained — 

Were prompt to seize whatever chance arose, 

That seemed to promise surety of success 

Against a Chief, whose frank blunt haughtiness 

Left many a rankling grudge, in hearts that owned 

His chieftainship while backed by strength ; and more 

In neighbours not dependent • most of whom 

Could always point, besides, to some heirloom 

Of injury — ancient grievance safe in store 

Kept to produce, parade as unatoned, 

Harangue on and grow wild about, whene'er 

Interest might prove a breach was worth their care. 

And now that Priest's defection — proffered aid 

To Tangi's foes, such tempting juncture made ! 

That sorcerer's help, to warn, foresee, foretell, 

And ever keep at hand, whate'er befel, 

The fresh reserve of some religious spell 

The fiercest Atua's favour to compel — 

With such ally what could against them be 

The force or fortune of the " Wailing Sea" ? — 

And readier even than these for reckless raid 



360 . Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xx. 

Was many a youth with jealous fury fired, 

Who, when that liquid landslip set her free 

From bonds the " tapu " had around her knit, 

To Amo's hand had fruitlessly aspired. 

So, mustering quick in arms — sharp lances fit 

For thrust or whirl ; flat spears with cleaving blade 

Of iron-hard wood ; smooth clublets of green jade 

Whale's bone or black obsidian : and, though few, 

The white man's lightning weapons dearly prized 

For such death-dealing powers, swift, safe, and true 

As made all slaughter's ruder tools despised : — 

— Bearing of berries dried sufficient store, 

Hinau — karaka, sun-cured fish and maize — 

Their siege-provisions for not many days, 

As trusting to catch Tangi unprepared 

And take his fortress by surprise before 

His distant friends could to the rescue pour : — 

— Dragging — (by dint of desperate labour, shared 

Among thick-crowding, oft-renewed relays — 

A hundred straining limbs and voices timed 

As one, by that wild chaunt in chorus chimed) — 

Or carrying bodily — their big canoes, 

O'er hill and dale, with fierce incessant toil, 

And frantic ardour nothing could infuse 

But rampant greed secure of blood and spoil : — 

— Leaving the friends of Tangi as they passed — 

Too weak alone, each hamlet, to withstand 

The headlong progress of so large a band, — 

Within their palisadoes shut up fast : — 

Thus had the host with hopes of victory flushed^ 

Through Tangi's country unimpeded rushed; 

And now were camped by Rotorua's Lake 

In swarms resolved his island-fort to take, 



canto xx.] Ranolf and Amohia. 361 

Under the leadership of one, by far 

The boldest, vainest that had joined the war — 

And " Whetu-riri " named—" The Angry Star." 

in. 
Nor deem that Priest had wholly laid aside 
The object of his passion and his pride 
So long — his native tribe's success and power. 
Incensed to be so baffled and defied, 
His aim in giving Tangi's foes their hour 
Of partial triumph, was but to reduce 
The Chieftain's haughtiness till he should be 
More pliant to his own ascendancy. 
These crowds were tools and creatures for his use ; 
For well he knew whenever he might please, 
He could the tumult he had raised appease ; 
Upon their superstitious fears could play, 
And fright his new adherents from the fray 
With well-invented omens of dismay. 
This crooked course to so concealed an end, 
Did to his mind his project recommend ; 
'Twas doubly dear to him to win his will 
By secret exercise of sinuous skill ; 
The consciousness of cunning mastery made 
A guerdon of success almost as dear 
As aught for which his cunning schemes were laid. 
Yet would he not even then, with insight clear, 
Deliberate purpose to himself confess, 
With cool deceptive art to forge or feign 
Omens and signs sinistrous, to restrain 
The assailants at the height of their success ; 
But he had taught himself to think and feel 
The Atuas ever favoured his appeal — 



362 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xx. 

Could with a little management be brought 

To give him mystic aid whenever sought. 

And at the outset, glad was he to find, 

Tangi's own acts to aid his plans inclined ; 

For the old Chief was so devoid of fear, 

When rumours of invasion reached his ear 

By foemen such as these, the thought he spurned, 

A notion too absurd to entertain ; 

And still refused, when surer news he learned, 

With obstinate and absolute disdain, 

To sanction against danger threatening thence, 

Any unwonted measures of defence. 

So when the storm broke o'er him, and he found 

The tide of War advancing all around, 

He gathered hastily a sturdy band 

Of staunch adherents readiest to his hand : 

And on that island hill-cone, girt and swathed 

In tiers, with terrace, ditch and smooth-scarped bank, 

Where'er its natural slope less steeply sank ; 

Each terrace a successive fighting stage ; 

Behind each fosse, a bristling palisade 

Of posts with carved and monstrous heads arrayed, 

Red-ochred, grim, and grinning scorn and rage ; — 

There they ensconced themselves to wait unscathed 

Till succours should be hurried up by sure 

And faithful emissaries swift despatched ; 

There, in their fortress, as they felt, secure — 

Withdrawing from each ditch its wooden bridge, 

lifting each terrace-ladder o'er its ridge, 

Each gate closed fast — there scornfully they watched, 

Behind the walls, each movement of the foe ; — 

Or frantically darting in and out 

The palisades, kept rushing to and fro 



canto xx.] Ranolf mid Amohia. 363 

With wild-tossed limbs and yell and taunting shout ; 

Or wasting at long range a charge or two 

Of precious ammunition, if it chanced, 

Prowling about, a prying war-canoe 

Close to the isle too temptingly advanced ; 

Or some marauding, reconnoitring band 

Upon the garden-level dared to land. — 

Thus, keeping ever at the boiling fret 

The fury that could find scant outlet yet, 

Thus did they shout, from morn to even close, 

Or dance defiance of their swarming foes. 

IV. 

Twice had the foe made fierce attack ; 

With slaughter twice been beaten back ; 

For Tangi's staunch and stalwart band — 

The skill and valour far-renowned 

That marked the veteran's cool command — 

The lines that wound that hill around — 

And last, not least, unknown before, 

The dreaded weapon Ranolf bore 

That through the press could swiftly hurl 

A shower of deaths at every whirl — 

All these together made a sum 

Of tough impediments no rush 

Of Uri-wera's hosts could crush, 

Or arts, so far essayed, o'ercome. 

Yet for a fresh assault, one more 

Ere they should give the contest o'er, 

They roused, revived their flagging force 

And spirit dashed by ill-success ; 

Revolving every rude resource 

Of savage war's ingeniousness ; 



364 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xx. 

Each tried, untried, expedient 
Old lore could teach, new craft invent ; 
And plying all the wild man's ways 
Their forced factitious wrath to raise 
And blow their fury to a blaze. 



v. 
— But who can dwell with much delight 
On details bare of barbarous fight ? 
War stripped of that superb disguise 
Of splendour which to youthful eyes 
Gives Terror more than Beauty's charms, 
And o'er Death's revel scatters rife 
Stern raptures of sublimest Life ? 
The marshalled ranks — far-glittering lines : 
And square on square compact and dense- 
Each layer-like slab of life intense 
That firm as bristling rampart shines 
In such high-drilled magnificence ! 
The single tramp and serried arms 
Of myriads moved like one together ! 
The bayonet-blades — each row of steel 
Soft waving like a brilliant feather, 
As in broad lines the regiments wheel — 
How in the sun they flash and quiver ! 
The ponderous flying guns that cling, 
Like savage birds of heavy wing, 
And clutch at every vantage ground, 
And with volcano smoke and sound 
Exulting boom and blaze away ; 
Or flit when they no more may stay, 
As vultures lagging leave their prey ! 



canto xx.] Ranolf and Amohia. 365 

Then Music's thrilling witchery, 
From Matter's gross enthralment ever 
Potent the spirit to deliver, 
Fans all the Soul to fever-heat ; 
The big drum's distant windy beat, 
Tumultuous-heaving stormy sea, 
Over whose plunging waves alway 
The fife's light notes dance up like spray ! 
And trumpet's soar and bugles call ; 
Or, loud in fits far rattling, comes 
The glorious long-resounding shiver 
Of those impatient kettle-drums ! — 
— But more than Music — more than all 

Imperial pomps and prides that shine 
To make Destruction's Art divine, 

Is that display, the grandest still 

To any human lot can fall, 

When Genius with consummate skill 

Wields the ennobling sword it draws 

Resistless in a righteous cause : 

Such as our wondrous Warrior drew, 

To Duty God had set him to, 

Ever like an Archangel true ! 

Whose Soul to that unsetting Sun — 

The denselier rolled the storm-clouds dun 

Of Fate — still soared on steadier wings ; 

A soul, a mien — godlike — serene — 

'Mid tumbling thrones and trembling kings ! 

— Or that high-passioned One— our loved 

Sea-King — whose frail war-shattered frame 

Seems, like the Sun's disc in its flame, 

Lost in his Spirit's blaze of Fame ; 

That fiery soft great heart sublime, 



366 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xx. 

Who with his stately white-winged crowd 

Of lightning-bearing Sea-Swans, moved 

Majestical from clime to clime, 

And, wrapped in one sky-reaching shroud 

Of dense white level-jetted cloud, 

With grand sea-thunders swept away 

His country's foes where'er they rose ; — 

Who, with such cool and crushing ease 

Like chessmen used to place and play 

His crowded floating fortresses ; — 

Who like a rushing Comet, prest 

Across the World from East to West 

And back, in that gigantic race 

0_f Warfleets o'er the Atlantic Main ; 

When wondering Europe saw him chase 

Like doubling hares that scud in vain, 

The navies of proud France and Spain ! — 

— Or He, whose dazzling deeds make pale 

(As well says one who paints the fray) 

Old marvellous times of casque and mail — 

Dense arrow-flights through thronging knights 

At Agincourt's and Cressy's fights ; 

Whose might on great Meanee's day 

Wiped out again the Cabul stain 

That red retreat — one slaughter ! he 

Who that audacious victory 

With his heroic handful tore 

From twice as many thousand foes 

As he had hundreds ; so, dispersed 

The hovering hundred thousand more 

Of ruffian-hordes with razor-swords 

Keen-panting on their prey to close : 

Flung to the winds the sway accurst, 



canto xx.] Ranolf and Amohia. 367 

And rooted up no more to rise 
The regal stews and robber sties 
Of those Emeers whose quaking fears 
Erelong through Asia's wide heart ran ; 
Till every turban ed Tyrant there 
And bloodstained bandit in his lair 
Shook at his very name — unscreened 
Though wastes and mountains intervened, 
Though round him raged a ruthless clan. 
Against this terrible true Man, 
This justice-wreaking holy fiend, 
This demon ' brother of Shay-tan ' 
Fighting God's battles ! — Ay, indeed ! 
These men were the right genuine stuff 
To rule a World — a hero-breed — 
High minds, such as by instinct feed 
On mighty tasks — Souls large enough 
For Empire ! not the creeping crew 
Whose rule our England yet may rue ; 
Whose huckstering God is only Gold — 
That ' cheaply bought ' be ' dearly sold,' 
Their sordid creed and single heed ; 
Whose grovelling zeal — their Altar still 
The counter, and their Ark the till — 
At that base shrine would sacrifice 
Power, honour, Empire ! — all the ties 
That keep us one ; whatever wakes 
The patriot glow, the pride of race ; — 
All that, with love of Order, makes 
A people of a populace, 
And any people great ! whate'er 
Of quick and kindling sympathy 
With England's children everywhere — 



368 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xx. 

Our common claim to one great name, 

One heritage of storied Fame, 

It was our boast, our strength to share ; — 

That conscious thrill of kindred blood 

Which false refinement feigns to raise, 

Evaporating all its good, 

Into a fine and feeble phase 

Of vague and vain philanthropy ; 

But kept within true range of kin, 

The more it can inspire, expand, 

So much more glorious, powerful, grand, 

Becomes each human brotherhood ; 

And ever, just as each has grown 

To greatness or remained unknown, 

Did each this genial warmth possess 

Defective or in bright excess — 

The savage, for his tribe alone, 

The Roman for a World — his own ! 

But these cold-hearted theorists cower 

At Empire thrust upon them — slink 

From their compatriots in the hour 

Of danger ; nay, that moment seize 

With peevish pettiness to rail 

At all the points (and numerous these) 

Where those who seek their succour, fail — • 

Not aid them first, in such a case 

As men had done in their high place 

Who nobly ruled a noble race ! 

Aye, noble still ! not apt to shrink 

From that ' self-help ' these selfish lords, 

Unhelping, save with worthless words, 

Consign them to with shameless taunt; 

Let that plain fact, no idle vaunt, 



canto xx.] Ranolf and Amohia. 369 

Their deaths, those gallant ones ! attest, 

So oft struck down in wretched war 

By savage pride upon us prest : — 

Attest it his, among the rest — 

(Be thus much said for kinship's sake) 

Who sleeps the sleep no more to wake 

On earth, 'mid loveliest scenes afar 

Where Tonga-riro's snows disgorge 

Their flames by blue Te Aira's lake — 

Young, kindly, chivalrous St. George ! 

Whose honour-fired aspiring brain 

Before that instant-blighting ball 

Flashed into darkness without pain, 

As in his wonted " dashing style " 

(His comrades said) his men he led 

Against the palisadoed wall 

Of that last prophet-cannibal 

Whose torturing tastes — impostures vile — 

Our rulers' sympathies beguile ! 

So swiftly his bold course was run — 

That ardent spirit's duties done, 

To whom the night and day were one, 

As through dense forest-glooms he crashed, 

Through flooded rivers dauntless dashed, 

Or galloped past thick fern, close by 

Where murderous scouts would lurking lie — 

To keep our friends in heart, disclose 

The machinations of our foes ; 

With cool, clear-sighted, fiery zeal 

Unceasing ! — ah, too soon the seal 

Was set upon that life unknown, 

That bud of promise nipt unblown ! 

The making of a hero marred, 

24 



3/0 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xx. 

If ever, then, when evil-starred 
That young career by death was barred ! 
— But not in vain ! no, though our bane, 
These rulers, should renounce the power 
For good such deaths are dared to dower 
Their weakness with ; though they, the same, 
New conquests should alike disclaim, 
And old assured dominion — nay, 
Should fling away the world-wide Lands, 
For ends that own God's clear commands 
Entrusted to their trembling hands — 
Birthright of England's swarming sons, 
Won by her mighty deathless dead, 
Her heroes' blood like water shed ! — 
But let such soulless puppet-play 
Of rabble-rid mock-rule endure, 
Such crawling creeds thy councils sway 
Unchecked — unchanged — O then be sure, 
England, my Country ! nought avails 
Thy wealth, thy commerce ; he who runs 
May read upon thy whited wall, 
The ' Mene, Tekel ' of thy fall ! 
Then hide thy head for shame — then say 
And sigh — thy soaring Sun has past 
Its zenith ; own thyself at last — 
Weighed in the fitting trader-scales, 
Found wanting ; then confess thy day 
Of greatness done — thy glory gone — 
Thy peddling kingdom passing fast away ! 

These thoughts in loyal hearts are rife — 
But let not here their shadows dark 
Intrude — where need was but to mark 



canto xx.] Ranolf and Amohia. 371 

How poor a thing is human strife 

Deprived of aids that seem designed 

To make even War a Worship — make 

Its mad turmoil the aspect take 

Of some ennobling rite where Mind 

Lords it o'er Matter — Soul o'er clay — 

With absolute predominance 

And solemn deep significance ; 

Until the very Battlefield 

Becomes a Temple for display 

Of spirit-proving deeds death-sealed 

Of high Self-sacrifice, sublime 

Devotion ; and the bloody sod 

Grows eloquent of something more 

Than Duty — something beyond Time — 

In recompense of Life and Soul 

Flung freely down, unstinted, whole, 

To magnify, uphold, restore 

The cause of Good — and therefore God ! 

But War in this stark savage way 
Looked too much like mere lust to slay ; 
Of its majestic mask laid bare 
The face of naked Murder seemed to wear ; 
Its hateful visage tempered by no glance 
Of lofty purpose or superb Romance. 

VI. 

Well — all the warrior-speeches had been made ; 

Now, with a coarsely classic dignity 

Of grave debate and stern ; and full parade 

Of flowing dog-furred mantle, and blunt spear 

With head tongue-shaped and feathery-ruffed, inlaid 



I 



372 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xx. 

With glistening shelly eyelets pearly-clear ; 

Now in rank virulence of savagery 

Complete — each naked speaker as he shrieked 

In hoarse harsh tones of mad complaint and rage, 

Impatient, like a wild-beast in its cage, 

To and fro fretting at a short quick run, 

With which each fragmentary fierce appeal, 

Each furious burst was ended and begun ; 

And every time he turned his angry heel 

Slapping his tattoed thigh ; until he reeked 

And foamed ; and breathless, voiceless, faint, 

Was forced at last to yield the task, to paint 

And passionate his griefs, to younger tongues, 

Less wearied limbs and unexhausted lungs. 

And then they danced their last war-dance to gain 

The physical fever of the blood and brain 

That might their dashed and drooping spirit sustain, 

Nor let their flagging courage fail or flinch. 

Then formal frenzy in full play was seen ; 

The dancers seemed a mob of maniacs, swayed 

By one insane volition, all obeyed, 

Their mad gesticulations to enact 

With frantic uniformity, exact 

As some innumerably-limbed machine, 

With rows of corresponding joints compact 

All one way working from a single winch : 

The leaping, dense, conglomerate mass of men 

Now all together off the ground — in air — 

Like some vast bird a moment's space — and then 

Down, with a single ponderous shock, again 

Down thundering on the groaning, trembling plain ! 

And every gesture fury could devise 

And practice regulate, was rampant there ; 



canto xx.] Ranolf and AmoJda. 373 

The loud slaps sounding on five hundred thighs ; 

Five hundred hideous faces drawn aside, 

Distorted with one paroxysm wide ; 

Five hundred tongues like one, protruding red, 

Thrust straining out to taunt, defy, deride ; 

And the cold glitter of a thousand eyes 

Upturning white far back into the head ; 

The heads from side to side with scorn all jerking 

And demon- spite, as if the wearers tried 

To jerk them off those frantic bodies working 

With such convulsive energy the while ! 

— Thus — and with grinding gnashing teeth, and fierce 

Explosions deep in oft narrated style, 

Those vollied pants of heartfelt execration ; 

Or showers of shuddering hissing groans that pierce 

The air with harsh accordance, like the crash 

When regiments their returning ramrods dash 

Sharp down the barrel-grooves with quivering clang 

In myriad-ringing unison — they lash 

Their maddened Souls to madder desperation ! — 

Thus all the day their fury hissed and rang : 

So groaned, leapt, foamed, grimaced they o'er and o'er ; 

Till all were burning, ere the Sun should soar, 

Against that stubborn Fort to fling themselves once more. 



374 Ranolf and Amoliia. [canto xxi. 



CANTO THE TWENTY-FIRST 



i. 

Before the faint wide smile of dawn, so wan 
And grey, to steal up Night's sad face began, 
Crammed in canoes bold Whetu-riri's host 
With favouring breeze had to Mokoia crossed. 
With hearts high-beating to the strand they spring, 
Each band behind its Chief; without a check 
Hasten through grove and garden — many a bed, 
That late in such luxuriant neatness spread, 
Of melons, maize and taro — now a wreck. 
The outer palisades the foremost reach ; 
Take the positions prearranged for each ; 
And close around the Fort, a swarming ring : — 
Then — as no challenge came — no warrior stirred, 
And not a sound about the Fort was heard ; 
At once, like one — six hundred throats or more 
Sent thundering skyward such a sea-like roar 
As old Mokoia never heard before : 



" How long, how long 

Will your courage sleep ? 
When will it wake from its slumber deep, 
When will your fury be fierce and strong ?- 



canto xxi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 375 

O but the tide it murmurs low, 
Low and slow 
Beginning to creep ; 
'Twill be long 
'Twill be long 
Ere it roar on the shore 
In the strength of its flow 

Take with spirits heavy-laden, 
Take your leave of wife and maiden ; 
Press, ha ! press in last embraces 
To your own their weeping faces ! 

Press them paling, 

Weeping, wailing — 
All your efforts unavailing ! 

For see, for see, 
The brave and the strong 
At your gateways throng ! 
See, see, how advancing in lines victorious, 
All your efforts scouting, scorning, 
To the fort you lurk dismayed in, 

Brave and strong 

We tramp along ! 
Ha ! we come ! exulting, glorious 
As those mountain-summits hoary \ 
Proud as mountain-peaks arrayed in 
The magnificence of Morning 
We come for glory — glory — glory ! 
We come ! we come ! — " 

Stern — silent — in determined mood 
Within those loop-holed walls of wood, 
Alert, be sure, old Tangi stood ; 



376 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxi. 

He and his stalwart warriors true, 

Alert, well-armed and watchful too ! 

Each short sharp-edged batoon of stone 

Grass-green, or white of polished bone, — 

That from the hand no foe might wring 

The weapon at close grips — was bound 

With thongs each sinewy wrist around ; 

But loose the long-armed axe was left, 

Both hardwood blade and pointed heft — 

A dagger, or an axe to swing, 

Just as the warrior thrust or cleft. 

The precious muskets, rude and few, 

Their blunted flints well-chipped anew, 

All primed and cocked, were pointing through 

The palisades, behind whose breast 

Keen, eager, fierce, the clansmen pressed, 

Like wild-beasts waiting for a spring. 

But yet no tongue the stillness broke, 

N o shout of wild defiance woke ; 

For to that threatening, thundering strain, 

The sole reply the Chief would deign 

Was one brief proverb, as his hand 

Waved silence to his eager band ; 

And that firm lip, comprest before, 

A haughty smile contemptuous wore ; 

" Ay, come ! " he growled — " come on to shell 

Cockles o?i KatikatPs shore I " — 

That long-disputed dangerous land, 

As every Maori knew so well, 

Fit for no tool but spear and brand ; 

On whose contested sands and rocks, 

Who came got nothing but hard knocks ; 

For, plucked from that long home of strife 



canto xxi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 377 

A limpet might have cost a life ! 
Hence grown a gibe for all who set 
Their hearts on gain they ne'er would get 



But soon as Tangi's taunt was flung, 

And while the roar redoubled rung, 

The assailing ranks disparting wide, — 

There forward rushed — a gloomy wood, 

In doubtful light the dawning gave, 

It seemed, or some great tidal wave ! 

A hundred of the bravest brave 

Swept darkling up in order good ; 

Each in his left hand holding high 

A bundle huge of brushwood dry 

And withered fern that hid him quite — 

Him and the fire-brand in his right. 

Against the fort their heaps they piled, 

And soon the flames were raging wild ; 

For still the breeze that brought them o'er 

Blew freshly from the further shore. 

It lighted up, that sudden glare, 

The fort — the shore — the swarming, bold, 

Blue, ghastly faces writhing there 

With wrath and frenzy uncontrolled ! 

The fern became a mass of fire, 

A brilliant yeast of surging gold ; 

And whirling darkly from the pyre 

The smoke in russet volumes rolled, 

With showers of sparks and frond and spray 

Red-hot, or floating filmy-grey. 

Old Tangi, Ranolf, and his train 

Of warriors strove, and strove in vain 



378 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxi. 

To heave the blazing heaps aside ; 
No naked limbs or clothed could bide 
That heat — no lungs could long sustain 
The smoke that, blinding, stifling, dense, 
Drove ever thicker through the fence. 
So forced from that first outwork, they 
With teeth that gnashed in scornful rage, 
And shouts of fury, burst away 
Leaping and clambering up to wage 
The fight upon a higher stage ; 
Headlong as alligators bounce 
With water-snakes and bull-frogs harsh, 
Out of some rank rush-covered marsh, 
In river-depths to plunge and flounce — 
In Hayti or the Isle made glad 
With springs perennial crystal-fed — 
When some crab-hunting negro-lad 
Has fired their reedy crackling bed. 

ii. 
Then wild with joy the ' Angry Star,' 
At this success — the first the war 
Vouchsafed his arms — let loose again 
His rampant pride, his boastful vein. 
By fear, by prudence undebarred, 
Up to the fence, black, tottering, charred — 
(His feet, — with green flax-sandals shod 
Prepared for this, the reeking sod 
And glowing embers safely trod) 
He bounded ; took his dauntless stand 
With granite-headed axe in hand 
Beneath it, and began to rain 
A shower of blows with might and main, 



canto xxi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 379 

As each had been his last for life, 
On crumbling post and crashing stake, 
Broad entrance for his band to make. 
There — bellowing loud his battle-song, 
His favourite song in such a strife ; 
While all the less adventurous throng, 
Save six or eight who lent their aid, 
Until the breach might be essayed, 
A more respectful distance kept ; — 
Less man than frenzied fiend of hell, 
He raved and roared and danced and leapt 
And right and left his weapon swept — 
A blow at every leap and yell — 
Against that smoking citadel : 

" Hit out, hit out 
My battle-axe stout ! 
Ha, ha ! you should tell 
The sound of it well, 

How it played 

Long ago 
On your crashing stockade ! 

Do you know, 

Do you know 
Who your foe may be ? 
Prick your ears up and hark 

Or come if you dare, 

I-ara ! if you dare 

Come out and see ! 

Wheturiri ! — 'tis he, 

Whose eyeballs glare . 

Red stars in the dark ! 

'Tis he ! 'tis he !— 



380 Ranolf and Amohia. [cant< 

Hit away — hit away, 
My battle-axe gay ! 
Hit out — hit out, 
My warriors stout ! 
The dastards rout 
And Victory shout — 
I-ara ! I-ara ! " — 



Now all upon that windward side 

The fallen fence left passage wide, 

And Wheturiri's raging host 

The ditch and barrier swiftly crossed ; 

While Tangi's men retreating, threw 

Themselves inside the rampart new ; 

And as the palisades they passed 

Made every sliding panel fast, 

Till round the fort the assailant horde 

Upon the second platform poured. 

Then out — unable to restrain 

His pent-up wrath, his fierce disdain, 

Or patient wait his foes' attack ; 

With all his bravest at his back, — 

Just as the glorious Sun again 

Slipped silvery from the mountains black 

With panting disc upfloating free — 

Out rushed at last the ' Wailing Sea ' 

In wild ferocious majesty, 

His battle-cry resounding loud 

Above the tumult of the crowd ! 

u Now, forward, now, my Sons with me— 

Now forward to the Land of Death! — " 

That shout o'er all the hubbub swelled 



canto xxi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 381 

Of casual shots and bulwarks felled, 

And stakes that crashed and fiends that yelled, 

Distinct, as from the midnight's core, 

Where leaps the blue sheet-lightning's blaze 

And hissing rains in torrents pour, 

The dread Caffrarian lion's roar, 

That shakes the earth to which he lays 

His head and thunders — rises o'er 

And deeper-volumed rolls beneath 

The angry bellowings that disclose 

Where stamp, upstarting from repose 

Whole herds of snorting buffaloes ! 

Where'er that Chieftain charged, dismayed 

His foes fell back like huddling sheep 

The wild-dog drives into a heap ; 

Or brief the fight the brave essayed : 

So deadly swept on as he rushed 

His ponderous battle-axe's blade ; 

Each chief who his encounter stayed 

Just met him, and with right arm crushed 

Disabled from the contest slunk ; 

Or down at once scarce groaning sunk 

With cloven skull and quivering trunk. 

— The Angry Star, for all his boast, 

Not yet the veteran's path had crossed, 

But, as it seemed, preferred to close 

With less renowned, less dangerous foes * 

Or had a craftier game to play 

More sure than such a doubtful fray. 

So still resistless through the fight 

Old Tangi raged • still rose on high 

O'er all the noise that battle-cry, 

" Now forward to the realms of Night /" — 



382 Ranolf mid Amohia. [canto xxi. 

Yet still, for numbers beaten back 
Fresh numbers pressed the fierce attack ; 
The platform mounted — haply dared 
To charge the very gates, across 
The bridges left upon the fosse 
By Tangi, for retreat prepared. 
But vain their toil — their fury vain : 
No hold, no entrance could they gain — 
Resisted all — repulsed or slain. 

in. 
Meanwhile upon another side 
Young Ranolf with a trusty band 
Had sallied, — when his anxious bride 
Fair Amo, — who whate'er her fears 
Gave no weak way to sighs and tears 
But o'er her heart kept brave command, 
Had to her serious brow and breast 
Her hero — husband — lover prest ; 
And prayed him, only for her sake 
Be careful, or her heart would break ! 
But he, although his own beat fast 
With strange excitement at this new 
Experience, reassuring smiled 
On the devoted desert-child ; 
And with that confidence, the glow 
Of burning blood, and nerves high-strung 
And braced by hardy life, bestow 
On those born brave, in health, and young — 
Till death, disaster, they contemn 
As things not meant, not made for them ! 
And hold their fortune, fate so high, 
All danger they may well defy — 



canto xxi.] Ranolf ana Amohia, 383 

He bade her, laughingly, rely 

Upon his luck, too good by far 

For him to fall in such a war ! 

Then sallied with his friends, where they 

As older warriors, led the way. 

With no ferocious wish to slay, 

No savage thirst for blood, at first 

Our generous youngster only chose 

To use his deadlier weapon more 

To save his friends than harm his foes. 

And when increased the wild uproar, 

And more intense the tustle grew, 

Himself with wild delight he threw 

Into the press as it had been 

Some headlong, jovial, schoolboy scene, 

' King-seal-ye !' — football — any game 

Might more than usual daring claim. 

While thus engaged, it chanced the youth 
Full upon Wheturiri came ; 
And with a moment's shock, in truth, 
That back his blood's quick current sent, 
Found his revolver's barrels spent ! 
Himself, in fact, unarmed, before 
The Chief who down upon him bore, 
But paused until he joyful saw 
The pistol never raised to fire ; 
Then out his tongue was thrust — his jaw 
Aside — his eyes turned back — his face 
Distorted with the grim grimace, 
His sign of hate, defiance, ire ; 
High whirled his axe for one sure blow 
To lay his helpless victim low. 



384 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxi. 

But Ranolf rallying swift as light 

Or lightning, leaping forward, dashed 

(Before the axe could downward sweep) 

His clenched right hand with all his might 

And the momentum of his leap, 

Full into that grimacing grin ; 

And made the astonished savage spin, — 

While fast his rolling eyeballs flashed 

With other gleams than fury lent — 

Clean o'er the ditch's sheer descent 

Amid the smouldering stakes that crashed 

Beneath him as he headlong went, 

Wondering what demon could assist 

The weight of that hard English fist — 

" Kapai ! ka nui pai ! — Well done ! 

O right well done!" a hoarse voice cried — 

Old Tangi's — at his topmost run 

As rushing round the palisade 

That brief encounter he espied, 

And hastened to the young man's aid. 

— A griesly sight in sooth was he 

That huge exulting Chief to see, 

As there with lowered axe he stood 

And Whetu's smashing fall surveyed ! 

From his broad axe-blade dripped and drained 

The blood ; and all with hostile blood 

His hoary hair and beard were stained ; 

With drops of fierce exertion rained 

His brow ; his chest — so rugged, vast, 

And muscle-woven like the twist 

Of cable-cords some olive rears, 

Some mighty trunk eight hundred years 

Have seen in rocky strength resist 



canto xxi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 385 

Their rending frost and raging heat ; — 
Like some great engine working fast, 
That knotty chest quick-heaving beat : 
So stood the Giant in his glee 
In friendly hideous ecstasy ! 
But scarce could toil or triumph check 
His course an instant ; on he went 
(As Ranolf leaving clear his road 
Back to the barrier stepped to load) 
On towards his prostrate breathless prey, — 
That fallen Star, — with fell intent 
To dash his life out where he lay. 
But ere he reached him, to his feet 
Up sprung Te VVhetu, bold, erect — 
Though still his blue-lined face streamed red 
With that well-planted blow's effect ; 
At first prepared his foe to meet ; 
4 But seemed an instant to reflect ; 

That tough encounter seemed to dread ; 
Then shouting bade his men retreat, 
And o'er the flat, deliberate, fled. 
Swift passed the word from man to man 
And swiftly leaping down they ran 
On all sides from the leaguered fort. 
Three steps to follow, Tangi took, 
With glad but half-astonished look ; 
And then in full career stopped short ; 
Smiled sternly with disdainful lip ; 
And pulling with his finger-tip 
His under-eyelid down in scorn 
" Is this your mutton-fish ! Am I 
Your greenhorn /" was his. haughty cry ; 
For all the plan was patent then, 

25 



$86 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxi. 

To draw him to the open plain, 

"Where his slight force though stanch and good, 

No chance against their numbers stood. 

So, with the crowd though onward borne 

A moment, back he forced his men ; 

Bade them for very shame restrain 

Their shouts of ' Victory,' yet to gain \ 

And soon had all except the slain 

Safe in the fort, to counsel there 

How best they might the wall repair — 

How best to meet — forestall — defeat, 

The next assault their foes might dare. 



IV. 

Short breathing time the Angry Star 
Gave Tangi, nor retreated far. 
Soon as he saw his feint to draw 
The veteran from his Fort had failed, 
Again he marshalled all his band 
Upon the flat beside the shore. 
Then with a new device though planned 
Before, with hearts and hopes new-fanned, 
And by the cunning Priest beguiled 
With omens sure and safe, once more 
The stubborn stronghold they assailed. 
With songs and yells and gestures wild . 
In swarms across the ditch they swept ; 
In swarms the broken barrier leapt ; 
Once more by casual shots annoyed 
Around the platform swift deployed. 
Again — scarce waiting their attack — 
The fiery Chief, whom neither age 



canto xxi.] Ranolf and Am'ohia. 3SJ 

Nor odds, nor toil made slow or slack, 

Had sallied forth to force them back, 

Or hand-to-hand at least engage 

The first who scaled that fighting-stage. 

So all the terrace circling round 

The ramparts, as before, was crowned 

With thronging men in deadly broil 

O'erthrown — o'erthrowing ; a dark coil 

Convulsive, fluctuating, dense, 

Of agonising forms confused, 

In every violent posture used 

In mad attack or tough defence ! 

A mass of spears and clubs that crossed 

And clashed, and limbs that twined and tossed, 

As leathery links of seaweed lithe 

At ebbing tide on rock-reefs writhe : 

And all the forms and limbs exact 

In statuesque proportions cast — 

Dark symmetry of strength compact ; 

Where working muscles rose and fell 

With shifting undulations, fast 

As poppling wavelets when the breeze 

The tiderip grates in narrow seas ! 

Till all that ring of wrestlings rife, 

Continuous knots of naked strife, 

Had seemed, to looker-on at ease, 

Some crowded Phigaleian frieze, 

Or Parthenaic miracle 

Of Art, awaked to sudden life — 

Or worked in terra-cotta, say, 

Brown Lapithae in deadly fray ; 

Large-limbed Theseian heroes old, 

But darkly dyed, of kindred race, 



388 Ranoif and Antohia. [canto xxi. 

Whose naked forms of classic mould 
In one wide-raging death-embrace 
Their naked struggling foes enfold. 

But when the fight was at its height 
His new device Te Whetu tried. 
Up-rushed a shouting band outside 
The black-charred fence before laid low. 
In order good, a double row 
They came ; each warrior of the first 
Poising a platted green-flax sling 
Well wetted in the nearest spring ; 
And in the sling a red-hot stone, 
Which, high above the ramparts thrown 
Should soon make such a blaze outburst 
From walls of rush and roofs of thatch 
As might the whole defences catch, 
And force the stifled foe to fly 
The Fort he held so stubbornly. 
The second rank bore, close behind, 
In baskets green with earth safe-lined, 
Of heated stones a fresh supply. 
Then, at a signal given they hurl 
A burning volley, thick and hot 
As soft red lumps of scoria whirl, 
In showers from dark abysses shot 
By old Vesuvius in his play, 
His common freaks of every day, 
When all his lava floods repose : 
Or such as o'er his creviced snows 
The grander Tongariro throws — 
While dread reverberations round 
His sulphurous crater-depths resound — 



canto xxi. J Ranolf and Amohia. 389 

When all the solemn midnight skies 
With that red beacon of surprise 
He startles — seeming from afar, 
Though low upon the horizon's bound, 
Sole object in the vault profound ! 
So baleful glares its fiery shine, 
To all the tribes an ominous sign 
Of death and wide disastrous war. 
— Now, now, alert and active be, 
Ye children of the ' Wailing Sea ! ' 
Your shifty foes will else make good 
The threats erelong that boastful song 
Sent echoing late o'er vale and wood ! — 
Not wholly unprepared they speed 
To baulk and baffle, if they may 
Their fierce assailant's fresh essay. 
For they had seen above the green 
The smoke of fires lit up when need 
Was none of fires for warmth or food ; 
And soon the project understood. 
So all the gourds they could provide 
Were ready, every house beside ; 
And even a large canoe to be 
Their tank in this extremity 
Hauled up and fitly placed ; — all filled 
With water from a well, supplied 
Itself by channels issuing through 
The rock upon the Lake, below 
Its surface cut ; their outlet so 
From keenest-eyed besiegers' view 
Well-hidden by its waters blue. 
And when that shower of firestones red 
Came whirling, whizzing overhead, 



390 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxl 

For this vocation primed and drilled, 

All those whom duty did not call 

To watch the gates, defend the wall — 

The old by age outworn, the young 

With sinews yet for fight unstrung — 

And young or old, the women too, 

With Amohia first of all, — 

Quick to the calabashes flew 

Or tottered as they best could do. 

And when the slightest whiff of smoke 

From any roof or rush-wall broke, 

Some hand was prompt the place to drench 

And ere it spread, the burning quench. 

But Amo, first among the crowd, 

With cheery accents, low not loud, 

As if at once their hearts to warm 

To effort, yet repress alarm — 

With smiles upon her face — howe'er 

Her heart might throb with secret care — 

Seemed ever everywhere at hand, 

To guide, encourage, cheer, command ! 

And once when fire broke out indeed 

And none just then appeared to heed, 

Nor quick enough the water came — 

Up to the roof she leapt, she sprung, 

And o'er the thatch her mantle flung, 

And trampled out the mounting flame. — 

With arms and that firm bosom bare, 

In skirt of glossy flax, as there 

Aloft in such excited mood 

Hurrying her hastening handmaids, stood 

The dauntless Girl — she looked as rare 

For spirit, grace, commanding mien, 



CANTO XXI. J 



Ranolf and Amohia. 



39i 



As loveliest Amazonian Queen 
In those surpassing friezes seen ! 



v. 

But while this passed upon the hill 

The fight below was raging still ; 

And that resistless ' Wailing Sea ' 

At last had met the enemy 

Whose death the most, of all the heap 

Of slaughter his remorseless blade 

That day, a bloody harvest, made, 

The haughty Veteran cared to reap. 

With satisfaction stern and deep 

To feel his foe within his power, 

He hurled — through clenching teeth that ground, 

As if with grim resolve that hour 

Should be the last of both or one, 

And see the hateful contest done — 

Defiance at " the slave — the hound ! " 

Then rushed upon him with a shower 

Of blows of such terrific power 

And weight and swiftness, left and right — 

The Angry Star, who tried in vain 

The pelting tempest to sustain, 

Was backward borne in self-despite, 

Parrying the blows as best he might ; 

Ducking his head from side to side 

Like tortured tree that scarce can bide 

The beating of a gusty gale. 

But Tangi's breath begins to fail, 

The driving blows at length relax ; 

Less swiftly whirls his battle-axe ; 

And Whetu in his turn attacks : 



39 2 Ranolf and Amokia. [canto xxi. 

But stalking round and round his foe 

And watching where a blow to plant, 

As runs a Tiger crouching low 

Around some wary Elephant, 

For chance, with viewless lightning-spring, 

His weight to launch upon the haunch 

Of the dread monster, and escape 

The white destruction that in shape 

Of those impaling tusks still gleams 

Before him — still to face him seems 

Turn where his eyes' green lustres may ! 

So watched Te Whetu when to fling 

Himself upon that warrior grey ; 

So round him plied his swinging stride ; 

Then flew at him with yell, and blow 

'Twas well for Tangi, eye and hand 

Were quick enough to slant aside — 

And tough enough his battle-brand 

Its sweeping fury to withstand. 

Then such a whirling maze began 

Of clattering weapons — stroke and guard 

And feint and parry, thrust and ward, 

As up and down the axes ran 

Together, that no sharpest eye 

Could follow their rapidity ! 

But Tangi, see ! has clutched at last 

Te Whetu by a necklace fast 

The boastful savage ever wore 

Of warriors' teeth, a ghastly wreath — 

And twists it hard his foe to choke, 

And shortens for a final stroke 

His axe's hold — but fails once more — 

The treacherous chain beneath the strain 



canto xxi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 393 

Breaks, scattering wide the hideous beads. 

Back springs Te Whetu — free again, 

The deadly strife may still maintain : 

Close follows Tangi ; mad to be 

Baulked of so sure a victory, 

The road beneath him little heeds : 

His step upon a spot is set 

Where the hard clay is slippery wet 

With gore ; he slips — he stumbles o'er 

A wounded wretch unseen who lies 

Right in his path, on crimsoned stones 

And dust that chokes a ruddy rill 

Slow-creeping but increasing still — 

Lies in the pathway there — with eyes 

That anguished roll, heartrending groans, 

And writhings like a centipede's 

Caught in a burning log — and bleeds. 

Down, down the Giant goes before 

His Foe, who now began to rave 

With joy at this unwonted run 

Of luck his favouring Atuas gave ! 

Ere Tangi — old — with toil o'erdone — 

Could raise him from his heavy fall, 

He whirled his poleaxe high to end 

Him and his triumphs, once for all. — 

The blow was never to descend ; 

For at that instant at full speed 

Up Ranolf ran to save his friend : 

There was no time for thought, nor need : 

Three balls in swift succession sent 

Through Whetu's body crashing went : 

Down drops his axe — his arms upthrown — 

His eyes a moment wildly glare, 



394 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxi. 

Then glaze with fixed and ghastly stare ; 

His staggering knees give way, — and tnere 

He lies a corpse without a groan ! 

A pang smote Ranolf — though he knew 

There was nought else for him to do. 

Slowly rose Tangi ; dauntless still ; 

And half-disposed to take it ill 

That Ranolf's shot his debt should pay 

And from his clutches snatch his prey. 



VI. 

But when Te Whetu's men beheld 
Their Angry Star, their hero, slain ; 
And Tangi up again, unquelled, 
With such triumphant fierce disdain 
Looking where next to dash among 
The thickest of the wavering throng ; — 
Beheld that Stranger's bearing bold, 
And in his firm determined hold 
His life-devouring weapon raised ; 
A terror seized the nearest band — 
Who since the duel first began 
Had breathless stood on either hand, 
Inactive ; wondering, half-amazed 
What would the conflict's issue be 
'Twixt ' Angry Star ' and ■ Wailing Sea.' — 
Through all the host the panic ran : 
Down from the platform headlong leapt 
The foremost fighting-men, and swept 
Along with them the slingers too 
And all the pebble-carrying crew ! 
Then Tangi, for he saw the rout 



canto xxi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 395 

Was real this time, began to shout 

To all his clansmen to come out, 

Pursue and press the flying foe, 

And smite and spare not high or low — 

No glut of dear revenge forego ! 

But short his course — his triumph short ; 

For as he turned him — and addrest 

To those behind a brief behest 

That some should stay to guard the fort, 

A bullet pierced his rugged breast, 

Out of a near plantation fired 

By some obscure assailant, hid 

Behind a fence — ensconced amid 

The rattling stems of withered maize — 

A parting gift ere he retired ; 

'Twas Marupo, so named to mark 

His ways — the ' Striker in the Dark.' — 

Down sinks the Chieftain — to the ground 

Bowed down by that slight-seeming wound ; 

Yet makes fierce efforts still to raise 

The fainting form one elbow stays : 

Still keeps erect that dizzying head, 

And lifts the arm that weighs like lead, 

And feebly cries a battle-cry 

Of Vengeance and of Victory : 

Still cheers with broken words and brief 

His men, with horror struck and grief 

To see, thus fall'n, their honoured Chief ; 

But most exhausts his gasping breath 

In bidding them avenge his death 

By such a havoc of his foes 

As shall illume where'er it goes 

The tale of his inglorious' close. 



39^ Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxi. 

His life-blood ebbing, thus he steeled 
His old brave heart, nor yet would yield 
To be transported from the field ; 
Less heeding death than this disgrace 
To fall by hand obscure or base ; 
Cursing the coward tools that gave 
Such easy power to every slave 
To slay the foe he durst not face ! — 
But while the most his hest obeyed, 
With Ranolf some about him stayed ; 
And with their sturdy tender aid, 
The Chief whom nothing could persuade, 
But senseless could resift no more, 
Into the nearest house he bore. 



VII. 

Meantime among the host that fled 
And few that followed, quickly spread 
The rumour Tangi too was dead ; 
And of the fugitives ahead 
The foremost and least scared began 
To make their comrades as they ran 
Note their pursuers — far and few — 
Their own o'erwhelming numbers too. 
They pause — they turn ; collect in knots 
About the ruined garden-plots ; 
Not unobserved of him, in place 
Of Tangi now who led the chase, 
A wary warrior ' Mawai ' named ; — 
' Mawai — the Gourd ' — because far-famed 
For many a crafty deep design 
By sap and trench and secret mine 



canto xxi.] Ranolf and Amohia. 397 

For creeping into forts — unstayed 

By tallest post and palisade ; 

As sure, though unperceived and slow, 

As over fences high or low 

That creeping climbing gourd will grow ; — 

Mawai amid the shrubs and trees 

The foe in clusters rallying sees : 

So shouts the danger out to all 

His headlong comrades within call ; 

Rates — reasons — threats — entreats and makes 

All whom his step or voice o'ertakes 

Keep more together — rest content 

Just now at least with what was done, 

The vengeance taken — victory won. 

And thus, with caution, by degrees, 

And often turning as they went 

As if to ferret out and slay 

Chance fugitives that hiding lay — 

So that a front they still present 

To that recovering enemy 

In crowds tumultuous hovering nigh, 

And make him doubt their true intent — 

The scanty band of victors back 

To their intrenchments take their way — 

Their fort, unconquered still, though black 

And reeking from the late attack. 



398 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxii. 



CANTO THE TWENTY-SECOND. 



But ere with Tangi Ranolf reached 

The Fort, the anxious Amo came — 

With more than one deep-wrinkled dame 

Of reputation unimpeached 

For skill medicinal — -supplied 

With best resources from their store 

Kept ready and prepared before — 

Lint, splints and bands and simples dried — 

Came hasting to her Father's side. 

Soon as his dangerous state appears, 

She dashes off the starting tears ; 

And sets to work the whimpering crones, 

And checks their loud untimely moans. 

Thus schooled, with old experienced eye 

And gentle hand, the nurses pry 

Into the wound, and probe, and try 

With styptic herbs well understood 

To check and stanch the oozing blood ; 

With many a mild restorative 

And crooning incantation, strive 

His pausing pulses to revive ; 



canto xxii. ] Ranolf and Amohia. , 399 

And back the flitting life allure 

With all they know to charm and cure ! 

With anodynes they soothe his pains ; 

And many a cooling drink restrains 

The fever in his feeble veins. 

By Amo's self, sad loving Child, 

The thick elastic mats are piled 

Whereon the helpless Chief they lay ; 

By Amo's hands are softly spread 

The silkiest, for that poor grand head ! 

Her tender hands alone essay 

To wash the battle-stains away; 

And smooth and comb with fondest care, 

His snowy beard and matted hair : 

While from her heart to those still skies, 

Sincere and fervent yearnings rise 

For aid, where'er it lives or lies, 

With any pitying deities ! — 

For she to Ranolf 's Gods will pray — 

Her father's — any Gods that may 

Save that dear life, that pain allay ! 

And must not heartfelt wishes pure, 

Deep-breathings of a daughter's love, 

Be grateful to the Powers above, 

And of benignant hearing sure, 

As any prayers howe'er exprest, 

And to whate'er enlightened, best 

Ideal of Infinite God addrest ? — 

And Ranolf, wondering, watched her glide — 

Mid all that carnage sanguine-dyed, 

And brutal savage homicide, 

And murderous passions raging wide — 



400 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxn. 

A Seraph of bright tenderness, 

A healing Angel, in distress 

Sent down to soothe — console and bless ! 

And felt, to see her there and thus, — 

" How sad and beautiful a thing, 

How sordid, sad, and glorious, 

This human Nature is I where spring 

Out of each other, linked by fate, 

Such heavenly love, such hellish hate ; 

What bred this vermin Hate ? — Love's rose ! 

Now, Love in Hate's vile hotbed blows ! — 

If Evil root itself in Good, 

And Good must be evolved from 111, 

Must not the Author of the Good 

Be Author of the Evil still ? 

And we, to work his ends, must we 

For love of Good, the Evil flee, 

That without which it could not be ? — 

Aye truly ! if to be the seed 

Of Good, is Evil's end decreed, 

Enough, be sure, will still remain 

To raise the plant, howe'er we strain 

The seed's destruction to attain. 

Say, by the great Soul-Shaper's plan 

(Not quite a maze, not wholly dim) 

'Tis Evil, tried and conquered, can 

Alone exalt ascending Man; — 

That just to win his way therein 

Unsoiled, unquelled, is asked of him ; 

The very power, from this life freed, 

In loftier life he most may need ! 

Then Evil's gauntlet he must run — 

Be plunged o'erhead in it, as one 



canto xxii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 401 

In water who would learn to swim • 

And stumbling often — oft o'erthrown 

Must risk it, as the Child ungrown 

Must risk the fall to go alone ; 

Held ever by its Mother's hand, 

How should it learn to walk or stand ? 

' 'Twere better it were born complete, 

Set up at once on steady feet,' 

Say you — ' could walk, swim, run at first — 

No need to have those weak limbs nurst ! ' 

Nay, then the holiest ties that bless 

Our Nature, you remove, repress — 

The Infant's love and soft caress, 

The Mother's depth of tenderness. 

So haply through all Being's round 

To this condition Good is bound, 

Evil in this alliance found ; 

That each must to the other lead, 

And from the other each proceed. 

And are they then each other's dower, 

Two opposite forces of one Power, 

Indifferent, central ? must we give 

Credence to that about the poles 

The positive and negative ? 

While to their union would we mount 

The ever mystic marvellous Fount 

Of Good and Evil, where they live 

In unimagined Essence bright 

Of Perfect, Necessary, Right, 

We come but to the Soul of Souls 

Unknowable, for aye unknown 

The Centre — God? whence issuing, still 

Is issuing into Good and 111 ? — 

26 



402 Ranolf and Amohia. 



! CANTO XXII. 



Who knows ? but one thing might be shown : 

Some Evil there must be where'er 

Is Imperfection, foul or fair : 

Perfection by a hairbreadth missed 

Is Imperfection ; you must say 

The One Allperfect every way 

Is God alone — what else but He ? — 

It follows — Evil must exist 

Or God's the sole Existence be. 

But say the Imperfect might be made 

Complete within its bounds— its grade— 

From every possible degree 

Of Evil done or suffered free — 

(Which none can prove) — with no desire 

As no conception of the higher : 

Would that a loftier lot have been ? 

To rest, a faultless mere machine 

Bound down to automatic bliss 

Of stagnant Being — that, or this 

Which works through Darkness to the Light, 

Still struggling towards the highest height 

Perhaps in progress infinite ? — 

Pooh — pooh ! " within himself he said 

Breaking the speculative thread 

Short off; — for that tumultuous fight, 

His own exertions — and the sight 

Of Amo by her fathers bed 

Working in strong affection's might 

To soothe and cheer his evil plight — 

Most keenly made him feel how vain, 

How sickly all the skeptic train 

Of thoughts on God, Man's doom or chance, 

And Nature's mystic governance : 



canto xxii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 403 

How true is Goethe's word — ' the cure 

For Doubt is Action; ' not indeed 

As making speculation sure — 

As solving any special doubt, 

Or settling any special creed, 

But making Doubt itself appear 

A thing impertinent and out 

Of place in this bright work-day sphere ; 

And all that Speculation seem 

The maundering of a feverish dream ; 

An idle growth, deficient both 

In fragrant flower and wholesome fruit ; 

Like some white straggling ivy-sprout, 

Or sickly honeysuckle-shoot, 

That thrusts a pale and feeble trail 

Inside a darksome building's wall ; 

But kept without, in light and heat, 

Had spread a green and graceful pall 

With feathery blossoms luscious-sweet 

O'er many a dreary blank or stain 

And blotch that else the eye would pain — 

Nor should have been allowed to crawl 

Into the inner dark at all. 

11. 

Crest-fallen — sullen at their ill-success, 

Across the Lake the sad assailants go ; 

With murmurs, not even fear can quite suppress, 

Against the Priest — for omens so belied — 

And each against the other, as the first 

Who after such defeats new hopes had nursed, 

And on such omens would fresh faith bestow. 

With smooth cajolings Kangapo replied, 



404 Ranolf and AmoJiia. [canto xxii. 

Though deep chagrin and rage he scarce could hide ; 

Showed how, the Fort half-burnt and Tangi killed, 

His prophecies had been wellnigh fulfilled ; 

And if at last on any point they failed 

'Twas that the white man's Atuas had prevailed 

O'er his — who shameless had their cause betrayed, 

But there were stronger Spirits to his aid 

He might have summoned had he been so willed ; 

Had net too great contempt his bosom swayed 

For those strange Gods, and want of caution bred 

In one those Gods should yet be taught to dread ! 

Thus much he owned ; but this would soon repair ; 

Only let not his faithful sons despair : 

By mightier Powers they soon should see o'erthrown 

His foes in spirit, and in flesh their own. 

But with his Atuas let him work alone 

That night; — when daybreak glimmered should be shown 

What they must do ; how best this juncture meet, 

And make their partial victory complete. 

So urged the glozing Priest, his only aim 

To gain more time to patch his tattered Fame ; 

Or find an opportunity to leave 

Those he scarce hoped much longer to deceive. 

They seemed to listen — feigned their fear dispelled ; 

Then their own agitated councils held j 

Some to contrive new measures to achieve 

The Priest's designs and their defeat retrieve ; 

Most to devise safe means without delay 

To get themselves and their canoes away 

From the increasing dangers of their stay. 



canto xxil] Ranolf and Amoliia. 405 



in. 
That eve a thought struck Ranolf, as he stood 
Watching the foe retreat in sullen mood — 
Brown barebacked bending crowds, and each canoe 
Its ruddy sides white-spotted with a row 
Of tufted feathers, paddling, silent, slow, 
With wake wide-rippling, o'er the Lake — light-blue 
As silver-shining skin of fish new-caught — 
Towards hills, of burnished copper cauldron's hue 
With the departing sunset ■ landing then, 
How, like dispirited, distracted men, 
In huddling knots they flocked and flitted — used 
Gesticulations, violent confused, 
Conflicting, undetermined ; while alone 
The Priest to his secluded cot had gone, 
How meditative, silent ! — then a thought 
Struck Ranolf, of a deed that might be done 
Would yield rich harvest with the morning sun. 

Oft through the pocket spy-glass thrown ashore 

When he was wrecked and which just now he wore, 

He from the island had observed before, 

How Kangapo from motives quickly guessed 

Had made his temporary place of rest 

Apart from all the crowd and tumult ; screened, 

By the low spur of hill that intervened, 

From that familiarity which breeds 

Contempt — (for hollow-glittering men and deeds !) 

And knowing well their superstitious fear 

From friends or foes would keep him safe and clear. 

Thus by the waterside alone he dwelt, 

Nor any fear of their annoyance felt. 



406 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxii. 



'Twas dead of night ; the stars with clouds vv'ere blurred 

Within the fort the wearied warriors lay 

And slept or still discussed the deadly fray. 

As noiselessly as Sunbeams on the plain, 

That shine and shift and fade and shine again, 

Bright Amo tended Tangi's fevered pain. 

Solemn and deep — distinct in every word, 

The intermittent watch-song might be heard 

O'er the monotonous, moaning, plaintive strain 

Of women wailing for their kinsmen slain, 

In groups, with heads down-bent upon their knees — 

A musical low tremulous hum like bees — 

Or swelling high like far-off murmuring seas ; 

But o'er it rose the watch-song clear and plain : 

For even the sentinels as round and round 

With frequent pause they paced the higher ground, 

Had many a chaunt and metaphoric snatch 

Of verse, to while the tedium of their watch ; 

(Say ye, the wise, O worthy of all praise, 

Who toil, with tokens from forgotten days 

The veil from that grand mystery to raise 

The origin- of Man and all his ways — 

Say through what inborn need, what instinct strong, 

These savage races are such slaves to Song !) 

But these, the watchers round Mokoia's fort 

Were sounding through the gloom, in phrases short, 

By snatches given, a song against surprise, — 

Half chaunt — half shouts, deep melancholy cries, 

W^hose purport, feebler paraphrase alone 

Can give — the sense that to themselves it gave ; 

For the simplicity of that rude stave 



canto xxii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 407 

Was so severe, its literal words made known, 

Were almost gibberish in their brevity : 

Only dilution can lend any zest, 

Or nutriment a stranger could digest, 

To song in short-hand, verse so cramped — comprest, 

The very pemmican of poetry : 

" Be wakeful — O be watchful ! men at every post 

around ; 
Lest on a barren rock hemmed in at morning ye be 

found ! 

Hemmed in — blocked up — cut off, by the advancing 
tide ; — 

O watchful, wakeful be — sharp - eared and lightning- 
eyed ! 

By Hari-hari's shore the beetling cliffs (O wakeful 

be!) 
Are at all times and tides beset by the beleaguering 

Sea. 

O watchful, wakeful be ! when women wail for warriors 

lost, 
'Tis like the high-complaining surf on Mokau's sounding 

coast. — 

Ay me ! Ay me ! still creeping nigher — still swarming up and 

trying 
Each ledge where seamews light — where'er their young ones 

nestle, prying ! — 



408 Ranolf and Amohia. Lcanto xxii. 

Not so — not so, on us the foe shall steal — yet wakeful 

be— 

O watchful, wakeful till the Sun spring glorious from the 

Sea ! "— 

So rolled the solemn Song the darkness through, 
As Ranolf with two lads — his trustiest two, 
Whose faith was greatest in himself, he knew ; 
From all the rest dissembling his design 
Nor letting even these two its end divine, 
Stole from the fort and launched a light canoe ; 
Then softly paddled o'er the Lake until 
They dimly could discern the looming hill 
Where Kangapo resided ; there they paused 
Intently listening — paddled on once more — 
(A low wind sighing scarce a ripple caused) 
Then cautiously approached the darksome shore, 
Some distance from the glen ; the keelless prore 
Slid smoothly up the pumice-sandy marge : 
Then out stepped Ranolf, giving strictest charge 
The two should wait there till his quick return, 
When they the object of their voyage should learn. 

So Ranolf stepped upon the strand ; 
His foot scarce craunched the gritty sand ; 
A flax-rope wound his waist around — 
Revolver ready in his hand. 
With eye and ear alert, and keen 
For dimmest sight or faintest sound, 
In that lone, dark and silent scene, 
His stealthy way he quickly found : 
That way he oft before had been ; 
That cottage lone had been his own ; 



canto xxii. J Ranolf and Amohia. 409 

Each woody rolling spur and dell, 

And wavy cliff to which they fell, 

Cut off below, — he knew full well. 

With noiseless pace he neared the place — 

Behind some bushes listening stood. 

No sign of life he saw or heard, 

But distant murmurs ; nothing stirred. 

On tiptoe to the hut he went ; 

Close to the wall his ear he leant, 

And while his own light-breathing ceased 

Could hear the breathing of the Priest ; 

Could hear his sighs — his mutterings low 

And restless shiftings to and fro. — 

" Awake, then — and too dark 'twould be 

Inside for me my work to see ! " 

Thought Ranolf — " how to bring him out ? 

The foe so near, their noise I hear ; 

He must be left no time to shout." 

A rustling noise along the thatch 

Like stealthy rats that creep and scratch, 

He made — " his ear 'twill surely catch ! 

With sounds like these along the wall 

The Atuas come at priestly call." — 

Small notice seemed the Priest to take : — 

The muttering voice a moment dropped ; 

The train of sad reflections stopped ; 

He listened — then the gloomy train 

Of muttered thoughts began again ; 

More certain sign the Gods must make 

Their votary's dull regard to wake ! 

His pistol stuck in that rope-belt, — 

Then Ranolf lifted up with care 

A heavy cooking-stone he felt 



410 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxii 

About his feet — left always there — 

And pitched it full upon the roof; 

The stealthy rustling noise renewed ; 

His pistol drew, and ready stood. 

" Against a summons so divine, 

Of present Gods so sure a sign, 

His priestly ear will ne'er be proof ! — " 

— Bewildered — wondering — all subdued 

By strange and superstitious fright, 

Out rushed the Priest into the night — 

Rushed into Ranolf s gripe that clutched 

About his throat his mat so tight, 

While his scared brow the pistol touched — 

Of Ranolf s threat was little need : 

11 Hist, wretch ! the pistol's at your head — 

The slightest noise — and you are dead ! " 

He could not speak, scarce breathe indeed, 

Till from that rivet somewhat freed. 

Thus grappled, to the beach below, 

Till out of hearing of the foe, 

Ranolf his cowering captive led ; 

Then on a sudden, turning round, 

Tripped up and threw him on the ground ; 

While the poor Sorcerer, sore dismayed, 

Believing his last moment come, 

For life, for mercy, whimpering prayed. 

Nought answered Ranolf ; stern and dumb. 

His knee upon his chest he placed ; 

Unwound the cord about his waist ; 

And quick the Sorcerer's mantle rolled, 

Leaving enough for breathing loose, 

About his head and frightened face : 

Then, from his sea-experience old. 






canto xxir.] Ranolf and AmoJiia. 411 

Expert at every tie and noose, 

In briefest space contrived to lace 

And truss his victim up, from nape 

Of neck to sole of foot, compact; 

Till chance was none of his escape. 

" There, friend ! for that kind trick you played 

Me once, I think you're well repaid." — 

Then to the hut again he tracked 

His hasty steps ; against the door 

A sketch-book-leaf prepared before 

He stuck, with this inscription fit, 

In letters large in Maori writ : 

" Kua kawakina — e — te Tbhunga ; 

Kia tup at afiopo, mo te hd — te ha / " 

" Your sorcerer from your side is torn ; 

Beware, beware to-morrow morn!" 

Beneath was sketched for signature 

The dreaded pistol — token sure 

To all the foe, if none could read, 

Whence came the message — whose the deed. 

Then back to where his helpless prey 

With muffled moanings writhing lay, 

Just like a chrysalis that works 

Its head and tail with useless jerks, 

Cramped by the sheath wherein it lurks — 

He sped ; hailed softly through the dark 

The lads expectant with their bark ; 

And helped by these, who little knew 

Their gruesome captive, packed him safe, 

Nor daring now to moan or chafe 

Beneath the thwarts of the canoe ; 

And to the isle, all danger past, 

In triumph soon was paddling fast. 



412 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxn. 

But when with quickened stroke they strove, 
And up the beach the vessel drove 
With many a cheer — they just could hear 
On high, the sentries' livelier lay 
Begin to greet the breaking day : 

" Stars are fleeting ; 

Night retreating — 
Yellow-stealing Dawn begun ! 

Slowly, mark ! 

Uplifts the dark — 
See, there a spark — then all the Sun ! 

Birds are singing, 

Forests ringing, 
Hark, O hark ! 
Danger flies with daylight springing ; 
O rejoice — your watch is done ! " — 

But when the invading host next day 
Found their great bulwark, guide and stay 
Borne off in this mysterious way, 
A panic seized them, one and all ! 
No further councils would they call ; 
Their planned retreat became a flight, 
And all had disappeared ere night. 



Much trouble it cost Ranolf when 'twas known 
•What captive thus into their hands was thrown, 
To save his forfeit life ; for Tangi's ire 
Against the scheming traitor burnt like fire. 
But generous still, and holding hardly worth 
His vengeance, one, who never from his birth 



canto xxil] Ranolf and Amohia. 413 

Had been a warrior, he at last gave way, 
Much wondering at the Stranger's strange desire 
To save the victim he had power to slay. 
So, hiding all his hatred, much increased 
By Ranolf s kindly act, the dangerous Priest, 
Scarce seeming sullen, spiteful or morose, 
Was for the present kept a prisoner close. 



1 



VI. 

Wasting and weakening ever, day by day, 

The ' Wailing Sea,' deep-wounded, lingering lay ; 

Or heavily dragged about his gaunt great frame, 

With hollowing cheeks, and eyes that yet would flame 

When news about his late assailants came, 

And how his gallant clansmen on all hands 

Made deadly havoc of their scattered bands. 

The fatal ball that pierced his massive chest 

Had torn an opening to his lungs their art 

Could never close, although it healed in part ; 

So that whene'er the gasping Chieftain drew 

A labouring breath, the air came hissing through ; 

At which in pure self-scorn he oft would jest, 

Laugh a faint echo of his old great laugh, 

And say he was already more than half 

A ghost, and talked the language of the dead, 

The whistling tones of spirits that have fled ; 

And Kangapo had best beware, or he 

Would worry him, for all his witchery ! 

— Bat most he loved to spend his scanty breath 

In urging all who stood his couch beside 

To hold their own, whatever might betide ; 

Whate'er the odds, the arms, .the Chiefs renowned 

Assailed them, still unblenched to keep their ground, 

And never, never yield — but fight till death ! 



414 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxn. 

And, when too weak to rise, his race nigh run, — 

He made them lift him out into the sun : 

Had all his favourite weapons round him laid — 

The weapons of his glory, youth, and pride ; 

And these, while memory with old visions played 

Of many a furious fight and famous raid, 

He feebly handled — proudly, fondly eyed : 

That heavy batlet bright of nephrite pure, 

Green, smooth and oval as a cactus leaf — 

' How heavy ! ' sighed he with a moment's grief ; 

But then what blows it dealt, how deadly sure — 

Its fame and his for ever must endure ! 

And that great battleaxe, from many a field 

Notched, hacked and stained, he could no longer wield, 

How many a warrior's fate that blade had sealed ! — 

The others to his kinsmen he bequeathed, 

But these he could not part with while he breathed. 

Then all the musquets he could boast — but few — 

And even his powder-kegs were set in view ; 

These were the Gods on whom he placed his trust 

To guard and keep his tribe when he was dust ; 

These were the sacred symbols — holy books — 

Whereon for comfort dwelt his dying looks. 

— Thus, all his Soul, in gesture, word and thought, 

One blaze of high defiance of the power 

Of Death to quell or quench it — thus he fought 

The griesly Tyrant to his latest hour ; 

As Tongariro's fires flare upward red 

And fierce, against the blackest clouds that shed 

Their stormy torrents on his shrouded head ! — 

The Priest, in place of Kangapo supplied, 

Sung ceaseless incantations at his side ; 

On him or them but little he relied. 

And when the inevitable talons fast 



canto xxn.] Ranolf and Amohia. 415 

Clutched his old heathen hero-heart at last ; 

When life's large flame slow-flickering fell and rose, 

Death's shadows flapping closer and more close, 

Still his unconquered Spirit strove to wave 

Its fluttering standard of defiance high ; 

And " Kia tba — kia tba ! O be brave, 

Be brave, my Sons ! " — he gasped with broken cry ! 

Then as the rattling throat and back-turned eye 

Told his last moment come, the restless Priest, 

With zeal to frenzy at the sight increased, 

Seizing his shoulders, shook him to set free 

His Spirit in its parting agony ; 

And bending o'er that dying head down-bowed, 

Into its heedless ear kept shouting loud : 

" Now, now, be one with the wide Light, the Sun ! 

With Night and Darkness, be one, be one ! " — 

Then rushed the men about with furious yells ; 

Then clubs were brandished — every musket fired ; 

The women shrilled, and as stern use required 

Their bosoms gashed with sharpened flints and shells ; 

Dogs barked and howled, the more the warriors leapt ; 

The Priest, like one madraving or inspired, 

Still shouting his viaticum untired ! 

So while both men and women, old and young 

Seemed by some demon to distraction stung — 

Though Amo, better taught by Ranolf, kept 

More self-command and only moaned and wept, — 

So while this stormy hubbub round him swept, 

The mighty Chief — the ' Wailing Sea,' expired. 

Thus Tangi died ; — not vastly grieved or vexed 
To leave this world — or grave about the next. 
He had his Heaven, be sure ; where warriors brave 
Found all the luxuries their rude tastes would crave ; 



[6 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxii. 

Transparent greenstone glorious, in excess, 

And lovelier-streaked than language could express : 

Fairtinted feathercrests of stateliest plume ; 

Rare flaxen robes of silkiest glossiness ; 

Roots of the richest succulence, perfume, 

And flavour, more than famine could consume ; 

And beauteous women of un withering bloom ! 

All this would lure them, lapt in skies, serene 

As on the long sweet summer-days are seen 

When silver-cradled clouds soft-piled upturn 

Their innocent white faces to the. Sun ■ 

Or spread o'er all the abyss of light a screen 

Snowy and delicate and overrun 

With little cracks, unequal network fine, 

Like those through which the firelogs' red hearts shine 

While at the surface ashen white they burn. — 

Of Paradise no lofty notion this — 

Yet their ideal no less, of perfect bliss. 

And whose is more ? — Of all the heavens divulged, 

Is there not still one staple, worst and best ? 

Sense, mental powers or moral, all indulged 

And exercised with mightier sway and zest : 

On infinite Perfection, say, entranced 

In rapturous rest to dwell ; or work its will, 

With nobler strengths, aims evermore advanced : — 

'Tis but your highest bliss you look for still ! 

You wish for the best state you can conceive, 

Or something better which to God you leave; 

To self-denying selfishness hold fast — 

Denying Self as best for Self at last : 

Wno so unselfish as consent to fall 

At last to lower life or none at all ? 

So 'tis for Happiness you press and pray — 

The state most blest, define it how you may. 



canto xxii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 417 

Are then your motives less by interest marred — 

Your self-devotion greater, self-regard 

Much less than his — the heathen's — who so true, 

So stanch and faithful to his simple creed 

Of Courage for his Tribe's well-being, threw 

His life away to win it, nor would deign 

To waste a sigh upon his loss or pain ; 

And self-forgetful still, no more would heed 

His gain — his not exceeding great reward, 

That heaven of sweet potatoes ? — yet confess 

The merit greater as the meed was less. 

Nor haply should his ' trust in God ' be scorned, 

Because, not naming Him whom none can name, 

It was but Confidence, upheld the same, 

By praises, prayers, professions unadorned, 

In what was Right, his Duty, so he felt ; 

Because in that unconsciousness he dwelt 

Much more upon the Duty to be done 

To win it, than the guerdon to be won ; 

So did the Duty ; cared for nought beside ; 

And let his Gods for all the rest provide. 

Two days in state the Chieftain's body lay, 

In arms, mats, feathers, all his best array ; 

And women wailed and musquet-volleys rung 

And funeral dirges were in chorus sung, 

Which likened him to things below — above — 

Best worth their admiration, pride and love ; 

Most precious trinkets of the greenstone jade — 

Canoe-prows carved with most elaborate blade 

And trees of stateliest height — most sheltering shade ; — 

Bade fiery mountains open to admit 

Their hero to the Reinga's gloomy pit ; — 

27 



41 8 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxii. 

Made breezes sigh and boiling geysers groan 

In cavernous depths for their great Warrior gone ; 

Bade Tu, the God of War, look favouring down ; - 

And all the mighty Shades of old renown 

Welcome a Spirit who among them came 

Proud as themselves, and of congenial fame ! 

Then to some secret cave and catacomb, 

Of all their nobly born the ancient tomb, 

In long procession slow, with chaplets crowned 

Of fresh-plucked leaves, their dirge-timed way they wound 

There left the dead Form couched in lonely state, 

The annual-rounding Sun's return to wait ; 

Then to be taken out with reverent care, 

And the dry bones, corruption-clogged — laid bare — 

With songs and savage rites and dances wild, 

Cleansed from all fleshly fragments of decay ; 

And 'mid white skulls and skeletons up-piled, 

In that most dreaded Sanctuary laid away. 



canto xxin.] Ranolf and Amohia. 419 



CANTO THE TWENTY-THIRD. 



Alas ! that human Happiness should never 
Like those fair-flowing snowy fringes be, 
That down Mahana's geyser-terraced hill, 
Grow into permanence as they distil ; 
In loveliness of marble mimicry 
There, in the act of falling, fixed for ever ! — 
Alas ! that Love's best transports may — 
Like rills that dance and gleam and glance, 
In loveliest forms of foam and spray 
Down common cataracts every day — 
So swiftly cease their sparkling play ; 
Though Love — the River's self — below 
As deep or deeper still may flow ! 

The days rolled on — as dark or bright they will ; 
And found those lovers fondly loving still. 
Could chance or change or circumstance destroy 
Fair Amo's fondness for her bright Sea-boy ? 
Hers was a love exhaustless as the Ocean ; 
Her heart unwearied — as his waves with motion- 
With restless play of passionate devotion. 



420 Ranolf and Amohia, [canto xxiii. 

Her pure profound Affection could outpour 

Its tender tributes from an endless store, 

With lavish waste diminishing no more, 

Than his with rolling snow-wreaths on the shore. 

Enraptured in the presence of the Lord 

And Idol of her young imagination, 

Her Soul seemed always in the act to bless — 

Her Spirit in a posture that adored ; 

Each look seemed love — each gesture a caress ; 

And every breath a yearning aspiration ! 

Though half the gems with which her Idol glowed 

And won her worship, she herself bestowed — 

Her heart was an unworked Golconda-mine, 

Unconscious as 'twas careless, what a dower — 

As a volcano might its scoria-shower — 

It flung of diamond-fancies on the shrine 

And round the Deity it made divine. 

The knowledge — courage — courtesy — whate'er 

In mind or body might be found, of fair 

Intelligent or brave in him she loved, 

By her fresh bosom's fond illusive pride, 

Were all sublimed, transfigured, glorified ; 

Beyond the reach of her and hers removed — 

As are some landscapes' beauties you survey 

With head downbent, and such new charms diffuse, 

That woods and plains are in transcend ant hues 

Of tenderest richness floated far away. 

ii. 
Was she not happy then? — what shadow stole 
Over her full contentedness of soul ? — 
It was that as the days less swiftly flew 
A weariness o'er Ranolf's spirit grew ; 



canto xxiii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 421 

Not of her charms or her — for none the less 

He loved his Wonder of the Wilderness. 

But that the Life he led of savage ease 

The more it was prolonged, seemed less to please. 

Perhaps his love of roving was too strong, 

Too deep-engrained to be quiescent long : 

But this was not a conscious need, nor would 

Have been the parent of his present mood : 

It was the crave for intellectual food, 

For which a young enthusiast Thinker pines, 

Who daringly has tasted of the Tree. 

Forbidden still, of Knowledge of a Good 

Beyond the actual still to be pursued 

In all things to all ends ; an Evil still 

To be assailed by Reason still more free, 

By wider Love and more exalted Will. 

It was the crave for Books — the mighty mines 

Where all the extinguished forests of mankind 

In diamond-thoughts lie crystallised — enshrined : 

And 'twas the haply sadder doom to be 

Excluded from the guidance — sympathy — 

The fellowship or presence of the prime 

Of men who towards the Light the highest climb ; 

And head the onslaught of the human Mind 

Against the strongholds of dim Destiny. 

Ambition — progress — all the hope and pride 

Of true Existence seemed to him denied. 

That land so rich in Beauty's sensuous smile. 

Seemed for the Soul, only a desert Isle. 

If ever chance-sent rumours reached his ear 

Of the great Nations in their grand career, 

They seemed dim records of aerial hosts 

Who struggled in the heavens — or shadowy ghosts. 



422 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxiii. 

All the loud wonder-throes of peace or war 

Seemed melted to a murmur faint and far ! 

What marvel if a feeling would intrude 

Of something wanting in this solitude ? — 

Was it a treason to almighty Love 

This sense of unfulfilled desire to prove ? 

Could any Love in any Paradise, 

Howe'er impassioned, mutual, melting, true — 

Alone for any lovers long suffice ? — 

Not poets' dreams can make it ever new — 

Not even a bustling dove can always coo ! 

And anxious Amo could not but perceive 
His thoughts were often wandering far away ; 
Her keen-eyed love would note, and inly grieve, 
The shadow on his features once so gay. 
The very love that, to her faithful breast, 
So magnified the merits he possessed ; 
On which to dwell and feel them all her own 
Were highest bliss to be conceived or known : 
Made her inclined to rate herself too low ; 
With timid doubt it could indeed be so, 
That such a treasure was reserved for her ! 
And often to her memory would recur, 
With what a glow he answered her demand 
To paint the Beauties of his native Land. 
And when her fond eye marked — more frequent now, 
His sad abstracted air and troubled brow, 
She could not check the thought, how full of woe, 
" Ah ! he is pining for those charms, I know, 
Those lovely beings all of light and snow ! 
O my o'erweening pride to think that he 
The glorious one, could be content with me ! — " 



canto- xxiii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 423 

Then would she seek the saddened heart to ease, 

And ply with simple craft her arts to please ; 

With skilful change her finest mantles choose 

Of broadest purfle and the fairest hues ; 

Their folds around her shapely shoulders place 

Or dainty waist, in each remembered way 

He most had praised for piquancy and grace : 

Or the soft glitter of her lustrous hair — 

So glossy black, the lights thrown off would play 

In sharp metallic gleams of bluish gray — 

In crimson flowers he loved her so to wear, 

Or wax-white creeper-wreaths, she would array, 

With chance-taught Taste so sure — such careless Care ! 

Or she would set herself a serious task, 

Through tangled woods and thickets dense to range 

In search of plants and insects— else despised — 

Because he took in them an interest strange, 

She knew not why and scarcely cared to ask, 

Since 'twas enough they were by Ranolf prized. 

Or she would summon all her Damsels gay, 

To lively dance or sportive game, that best 

Would dexterous skill or native grace display : 

Or send them on a harvest-gathering quest 

Of clustering purple-fringes whence they squeeze 

Sweet jellies ruby-clear : because the sight 

Once seemed his fancy so to strike and please 

Of these wild Wood-nymphs trooping through the trees 

Back with their mirth-lit eyes — teeth glittering white 

With laughter — tresses floating on the breeze, 

And cheeks and foreheads in their reckless mood 

All dashed and splashed with crimson berry-blood ; 

Like nymphs that frolic reeled in Bacchic dance 

In Nature's golden-aged exuberance, 



424 Rauolf and Atnohia. [canto xxm. 

Or with goat-borne Silerms loved to romp 
In grape-empurpled grace and tipsy pomp ! 
And Ranolf would her loving purpose guess ; 
And chide himself that he could not repress 
The weary longing that would o'er him steal ; 
And force a gaiety he could not feel ; 
And show her deeper love and double tenderness. 
But how should this content her ? whose sole aim 
Was to light up the old gladness in his eyes ; 
And little cared what of herself became, 
Were that secured at any sacrifice ; 
But gained from true love far too keen a glance 
To be deceived by any simulance 
Of feeling, or affectionate pretence ; — 
Is not true Love the Mesmerizer true- 
Beyond material Nature and above ; 
Clear-seeing, with its supernatural sense 
The sympathetic object through and through ? 
Into its inmost being swift to dart, 
In strange emotion take magnetic part, 
And throb with beatings of the loved one's heart ? — 
So Ranolf fondly sought — but sought in vain 
From those fond eyes to hide his inward pain. 

in. 
What could be done ? could he then bear her hence, 
A wondering Wilding to his native land, 
A savage wife ! Ah what a startling shock 
To prejudices like a wall of rock 
Sense-based or senseless — piled on every hand I 
Could he find fortitude or impudence 
The ridicule and censure to withstand 
Wisdom and folly would alike dispense ? 



canto xxiil] Ranolf and Amohia. 425 

Could he endure to be the mark or mock 

For open pity — secret insolence ? 

To friends and kindred such a stumbling-block 

Of deep and irremediable offence ? 

Ah could he brave all this ? — But graver care 

It was, how Amo such a change could bear ? 

Could this bright Child of woods and waters thrive 

In the hot crowding of our social hive — 

Though not like its mere honey-workers tasked, 

Though only for such lightsome labour asked, 

Such sweet monotony of toil as there 

The partner of his moderate means must share? — 

This life, self-guided by her will or whim — 

Could she resign it for confinement dim, 

Cooped round with indoor comfort — too secure ? 

Give up bright careless ease and breathing pure 

In azure liberty of Sun and Air, 

To choke in some fine atmosphere, of nice 

Punctilios and proprieties precise ? 

Be drilled into the trite and tedious round 

Of petty duties, poor amusements, found 

In formal life by strict conventions bound ? — 

Or could it flourish, this wild-flowering Tree, 

Transparent with the sunbeams flowing free 

Through its white cloud of blossom — nailed and trained 

Espalier-wise against the rigid Wall 

Of civilised existence — shorn of all 

Its shoots of natural beauty — every spray 

Checked in its impulses of artless play — 

And all its waving wanton boughs constrained 

And tortured into stiff and starch array, 

In straightened uniformity controlled, 

Like iron grate-bars regular and cold ? — 



4 2 6 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxiii. 

Or could the Tree transplanted long endure 

The chill and rigour of a rougher sky ? 

The beautiful Exotic would be sure 

In such ungenial clime to droop and die ! 

Nay (for this minor matter too deserves 

A moment's thought) what sacrilege 'twould seem 

To bolster out, disfigure and compress 

That realization of a sculptor's dream 

Of pure proportion — sinuous symmetry — 

So simply clad in classic drapery — 

That hit the happy and harmonious mean 

Between the ripe and rich voluptuousness 

Of lovely Aphrodite — soft and warm — 

And beauty bright with a severer charm, 

The light strong grace of active Artemis : — 

Ah ! what a sin to screw a shape like this 

Into some flaunting wire-and-whalebone screen 

Of beauty-blighting frippery, that combines 

In dull extravagance discordant lines — 

Sharp angles — shooting arcs and cutting curves — . 

Each form fantastic from true taste that swerves 

In hideous freaks of fashionable dress ! 

No ! whether for her mind's or body's weal 

He most was anxious — most was bound to feel — 

Whichever way he looked, it seemed too plain, 

He must this longing for his home restrain. 

IV. 

So with factitious fervour — wearied zeal 
As if to banish thought and deaden pain 
He takes to his boar-hunting toils again ; 
While native mongrels, bad or good, replace 
His first stanch sturdy comrade in the chase; 



canto xxiii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 427 

But none he loved so — none that so loved him — 

As that good-tempered wriggling tiger — Nim ! 

And many a day and sometimes nights he passed 

Amid the forests on the Mountains vast ; 

While Amo, loving still and lonely grieved, 

By his affected interest undeceived 

In these pursuits ; and with increased distress, 

Saw the sad struggle she so well could guess — 

The discontent of forced contentedness. 

Though he was kind — aye kinder than before, 

'Twas not for kindness that she yearned alone, 

But love — glad glowing love like that of yore, 

Impetuous and impassioned as her own ! 

That kindness might be pity — nay, it must ! 

What else could be more likely — natural — just ! 

What else could one of such exalted sphere 

Her fancy lifted to a realm so clear 

And high above her, from his glorious place 

Feel towards a being of inferior race, 

Such as her love still made herself appear ? 

" Did he not come, a wonder and a prize 

From some far Clime mysterious as the Skies — - 

Stoop in his flight to steep me in excess 

Of too delightful, fleeting happiness — 

My lowly life with strange wild joys to crown, 

As Hapae in the legend once came down. 

The white-winged Wanderer from blue haunts above— 

And on Tawhaki lavished all that love ? 

Ah ! what am I, or what my claim or right 

To keep all to myself a thing so bright ? — " 

And then her anguish took another turn ; 

With the old pride at moments would she burn : 

" Am I not something too ! through all the land 



428. Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxiii. 

Where'er oil great or small the Sun would shine 

What Maid could boast superior birth to mine ? 

Could I help hearing how on every hand 

They said — not men, even women — far and wide 

For beauty none with Amohia vied ; 

None in the dance such wavy grace displayed ; 

Such fair designs for rich-wrought purfles made — 

Like her could tell a legend— turn a song ? — 

Was it all flattery then — delusive — wrong ? 

Is she — through her whole life so praised — so prized, 

Doomed to be now neglected and despised ? " — 

In her distraction then how would she try 

To hate the cause of all this agony ; 

Half curse him in her impotent distress — 

Aye — curse him with a passion that — would bless ! 

The mere conception of harsh words of hate 

Such instant fond revulsion would create, 

The ire wrung out by woe, in utterance choked, 

Itself a gush of boundless love provoked — 

The rage ran off in tears of tenderness : 

" Too mad ! too mad ! — too horrible to curse 

One so beloved — so beautiful — O worse 

Than Rona cursing the full Moon for light ! 

Is it his blame he shines at such a height ? 

Ah, miserable me ! who can but find 

Food for a curse in what I am too blind — 

No— not too blind ! I cannot, ne'er could be 

So blind, that dear, dear glory, not to see ! 

And seeing it and him — to think it strange 

If love like mine he only could bestow 

On beings like himself in fair exchange — 

Bright beings — ah — those Maids he talked of so — 

All golden light and sunset-tinted snow ! 



canto xxiii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 429 

In beauty, knowledge — all attractions fine 

Such as perchance I never could divine, 

Would they not dim these poor dark charms of mine 

As he does all our native youths outshine ! 

But could they love like me ? Ah were they here 

To show which held the dearest one most dear ! 

Would they were here ! if deadly danger prest 

His life, he soon would learn who loved him best ! 

W T ould they, like me (O would I might !) to save 

Him sinking, rush into the flooded wave 

And all the terrors of the torrent brave ? 

Would they, like me, dash into the thickest fight, 

Cling to his conquering foe, about to smite 

And take the blow — Ah me ! with what delight, 

Aimed at that head so beautiful — so bright ! 

Then, then — those Wonders — none he soon would see 

Could worship — doat on — die for him like me ! 

Ah, why can men love nothing but the skin, 

So little care for all that glows within — 

All that should lure their love — their praises win ? 

Ah, why was I not made as wise, as fair — 

Why should those Gods or Atuas — whatsoe'er 

They be — have left me of these gifts so bare, 

And grudged me all but misery and despair? 

And yet he said — for I remember well 

When of those wondrous beauties he would tell 

The greatest merit could be had or known 

Was for another's good to give your own ; 

And chose grand Creatures, born to light and bliss, 

Good in so much besides, were best in this. 

But there at least I am their equal — I ; 

O could I not the best of them defy 

To give all / would give his good to buy ? 



430 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxiii. 

None — none of them like me, without a sigh, 
To give him joy, a thousand times would die : 
O that the chance would rise — howe'er it came 
That I might prove, and he might learn, the same ! " 

And so the days slid heavily for both — 

Each grief grew daily with the other's growth ; 

And from the woods upon his sad return 

The sadness in her eyes he would discern, 

And try to cheer her, O, with words too drear — 

Words meaning much — but sounding little — cheer. 

And then it was her turn sad joy to feign, 

Which, pressing hard her heart to check its pain 

She feigned — with stiffening lips that twitched in vain ; 

Thinking — with anguish smiling for his sake — 

" O misery ! my heart will break, will break ! " 



v. 
So matters stood. And now the Autumn's fruits — 
Karaka — taro — kumera — berries, roots — 
Had all been harvested with merry lays 
And rites of solemn gladness \ choral praise 
And pure religious feeling — grateful — true ; 
Though rude, benighted if you will, the due 
Of the great bounteous Spirit unknown or known 
Of Nature ; due in every clime or zone ; 
They called it ' Ron go ' — God of fruits and peace ; 
What matter, so the gratitude was given 
To Spirit — call it Nature, God or Heaven ? — 
The worst was, almost ere the songs could cease, 
With idiot inconsistency, like — men, 
The very life-preserving gifts that then 






canto xxiii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 431 

They thanked their God for, they would straight employ 
As means, almost incentives, to destroy ; 
And seize the occasion of abundant food 
As fittest for the work of war and blood. 

'Twas then, that tidings of invasion, planned 

By far more dangerous foes, against their land. 

Reached Rotorua's people ; how in brief 

That mighty tribe, of all the tribes the chief, 

Far in the North, whom not their neighbours dread 

Not even the great Waikato could withstand — 

Such wealth of guns and powder could they boast, 

(For with the white man's ships they trafficked most) 

Were coming, an innumerable host 

'Twas rumoured, by the famous Chieftain led 

With whom the marriage treaty was begun 

Which Amo when she swam the Lake had fled ; 

So much the picture of her beauty brought 

By Kangapo had on his fancy wrought ; 

Such power had recently that rabid Priest — 

(By careless Ranolf in contempt released 

When after Tangi's death the warfare ceased) — 

O'er the excited haughty Chieftain won ; 

And, mad with rancour and revengeful spite 

He could not wreak on Ranolf, nor requite 

That spurner of his supernatural might 

Who laughed at necromantic spells and charms, 

Except by tearing Amo from his arms — 

Had roused the Chief's too ready sense of slight, 

By representing Tangi in the light 

Of an abettor of his daughter's flight ; 

And acquiescent in the wrong his pride 

Endured from those who sought — then set aside — 



43 2 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxiij. 

The great alliance they would now deride. 
So all this storm was brewing, it was plain, 
And soon would ruin and destruction rain 
Upon their tribe, one special end to gain,— 
To force surrender of the proffered bride, 
And vengeance on the Stranger so obtain. 



Before the tidings well were told, which filled 
The eager-listening crowd with blank dismay, 
The prescient heart of Amohia chilled ; 
And through her brain there shot a gloomy ray. 
That Message seemed her secret Soul to seek ; 
Seemed to her inner consciousness to speak 
Doomlike, before the story was got through ; 
Almost before she heard the half, she knew 
Her hour was come, and all she had to do. 
To foes like these, resistance would be vain, 
She would be captured, Ranolf would be slain. 
This was the chance that she had prayed for still ; 
This was the moment when her heart should thrill 
With joy, not terror, for the hope it gave — 
Nay, all the certainty her heart could crave — 
To prove her love and her adored one save ! 
Yes ; she, ere it burst forth, that storm would stay, 
Anticipate — prevent that dreadful day 
And turn its terrors from one head away ! 
To save that dear one, she would go alone 
And give herself to that resistless Chief; 
The wrong, if done by Ranolf, so atone 
And buy his life, O more than with her own ! — 
Her life were little — better could she bear 
To give a thousand lives than seem to share 






canto xxiii.] Ranolf and Amohia. 433 

Another's love ; that was the pain, the smart, 

That was the sacrifice that wrung her heart ; 

Yet, worse than death, to make his life secure 

This outrage to her love would she endure ! 

Yet life would still be given — for O with grief 

She soon would die, and death would be relief! 

Or if it came not of itself — and here 

Pale grew her solemn brow and more severe 

Her eyes and firm prest lips — herself would rend 

The life away that misery would not end. 

But Ranolf would be saved — O he would know 

How matchless, boundless was her love — and woe ; 

And feel, the best of those he vaunted so 

Could not outdare her in devotion — make 

Such sacrifice of self for his dear sake ! 

Then would he long for her again — and weep 

Her loss, and ever in his bosom deep 

His poor wild maiden's memory fondly keep ! 

But Ranolf, whose own cares too deeply weighed, 

Not much attention to these tidings paid : 

" It was their greed for marvels — nothing more ; 

Or if that doughty Chieftain and his men 

Were bent upon invading them — what then ? 

They would be threshed as Whetu was before." 

So he continued listless to explore 

The forests for the footprints of the boar. 

And Amo thought, " He does not know their power, 

Nor half their evil deeds in victory's hour " — 

And all the more determined it was right 

Herself should save him in his own despite. 



28 



434 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxm. 



VI. 

And often had she fixed the day to start, 

Yet could not bear from all life's light to part ; 

The project oft deferred, was still renewed, 

Whenever Ranolf's restlessness she viewed ; 

Until one night arrived for her and him, 

That filled their cup of misery to the brim. 

That day a precious letter from his home — 

With slanting oval postmarks blue and red, 

And scrawls " Try here — try there " all overspread — 

Had (passed from tribe to tribe) to Ranolf come ; 

And with it, news that all the Chiefs who shared 

The great proposed invasion were prepared 

With countless guns and piles of packed-up food 

And war-canoes and crowds of warriors good 

To start in sanguinary, sanguine mood. — 

And Amo all that eve had sate and gazed 

With tearful looks, how fond ! on Ranolf's face 

And eyes, so seldom from the letter raised, 

Or fixed in sad abstraction far away, 

While on his knees the fatal missive lay ; 

And fancied all his thoughts she well could trace — 

With maddening hopelessness how they would run 

Upon the Sister — Mother— long unseen ; 

And what a roar of Ocean — vast — unknown — 

And obstacles far greater, stood between 

Those loved ones and the Brother and lost Son ; 

And some sweet phantom Shape still dearer, she 

Would fancy in his picture there must be ! — 
'Twas then, and there, with burning — bursting heart 
And choking throat — she bound herself, alone 

Come what come might — next morning to depart. 



canto xxiii.] Ranolf and Atnohia. 435 



So, when day broke, while Ranolf, half the night 
Awake, was sleeping sadly by her side, 
She rose up — from her prostrate grief upright — 
To take a last long gaze — heart-broken bride — 
Upon that sleeping face — her life — her pride ! 
Then, in an agony of tenderness 
With those fair golden curls she toyed awhile 
That seemed to mock her with their sunny smile ; 
And lavished many a bitter-sweet caress 
Upon the brow and cheeks and fast-closed eyes 
She loved so — more than ever seemed to prize, 
And thought more beautiful in this distress ; 
And hid at last her face upon his breast, 
And wept a passionate flood of bitter tears — 
" O could she there end all — joys, woes and fears- 
Dead — dead at once — for ever there to rest ! " — 
And when at those fond touches Ranolf woke, 
And saw her grief, and words of comfort spoke, 
Returning her caress, and sought to know 
What sudden sorrow caused these tears to flow : 
With quick -recovered firmness she replied — 
'Twas nothing — he was not to mind her — she 
Was foolish — was ' fiorangp — and would be 
Better directly — " and her tears she dried 
And smiled in utter misery — and tried 
Her deep despairing eyes from his to hide ; 
The while with more than usual busy zeal, 
It seemed, she went about the morning meal ; 
Then set it quietly before him — made 
Some light excuse why he could not persuade 
Herself to touch it — quietly received 
His last caress, as, bidding her be cheered, 



436 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxiii. 

" For he would soon return, she might be sure ! " — 
And kissing her, he stroked her tresses black, 
And with his dogs and gun, and heart sore-grieved 
Off to the hills, by her calm looks deceived, 
As usual went ; while she, with bosom seared, 
And brain that whirled confused upon a rack 
Of thoughts and feelings she could scarce endure, 
Till all that she was seeing, hearing — seemed 
Something she heard not — saw not — only dreamed, 
She stood there watching till he disappeared ; — 
Then flung herself upon her couch, and there 
Gave full, wild vent to sobbings of despair. 

Soon with set teeth she rises ; from her eyes 

Brushes the blinding tears that will arise ; 

And snatching up a small supply of food — 

For life must last to make her purpose good — 

Still in the clutch of that wild passion held, 

That from her tight grief-strangled bosom swelled 

Up to her throbbing brow — as if compelled 

By outward force — she keeps her frenzied thought 

As well as her despairing fevered glance, 

From resting on a single circumstance 

Of past or recent happiness, or aught 

About that dim — loved — lost — and torturing scene — 

The hut — the room where she so blest had been ! 

But staggering as beneath a heavy load, 

Rushes straight forward on her blighted road. 



canto xxiv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 437 



CANTO THE TWENTY-FOURTH. 



1. 
So all that day, as by a dream possessed — 
On — on — by one idea absorbed, opprest — 
For many a mile, as if herself she fled, 
Shunning all human sight the Wanderer sped : 
* To save him /' the one hope, one lure to guide 
Her course — all goading sharp despair beside. 

But when exhausted nature would have rest, 

And, reckless where, she sank upon the ground, 

She was upon the very spot, she found, 

Where Ranolf and herself, by rain delayed, 

On that first blessed journey once had stayed. 

And at a little distance she espied 

The cave itself where they had made their nest, — 

Laughing, their happy nest ! — a yellow cave 

Of clayey sandstone scooped out smooth and round 

By some long-vanished immemorial wave ; 

One of a row that undermined the base 

Of the steep hill-side green with tangled fern — 

Only a few feet high and deep — a place 

Just large enough for those two lovers fond, 

And over-draped with drooping bough and frond 



438 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxiv, 

There lay the flattened fern-couch — brown and dry ; 

The impress of two forms she could descry, 

Still undisturbed by winds or passers-by. 

Then did the conquering tenderness return ; 

And she resolved (for, but a little space, 

The circuit her arrival would delay 

At her sad journey's end) she would repair 

Once more to those dear Lakes ; the district fair 

Where all the bliss of her life's little day 

Lay like a vanished treasure ; stored up there — 

Quite lost to her — gone — lost and laid away ! 

11. 
Dim skies and heavy rain ! — 
And by Mahana's Lake she roams again ; 
Nursing her agony with insensate care, 
And pampering her despair : 
Has sought out every scene 
Where she and Ranolf had together been : 
On every sight 
Of wonder once and such delight 
Again has dwelt : 
And in their presence felt — 
Delight ? Ah no ! increased distress — 
No wonder — worse than weariness. 

The clouds were dark and low; 
Rain falling, soft and slow ; 
Day closing on her woe; 
As, little heeding where she went, 
With trouble more than travel spent, 
She wandered reckless near the weird ravine 
That leads up to the Lake of waters green, 



canto xxiv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 439 

Through spectral shapes forlorn 
Of rocks all torn and weather-worn ; 
More gaunt, distorted, grim, 
Thus shadowy seen through vapours dim. 
Then at the entrance of that dismal vale, 
Where dense broom-thickets hide 
Mud-pools that boil on every side, 
And pit the crust, that anywhere might fail 
The footstep, with foul cauldrons deep and wide ; — 
There, she — with hands upon her knees that hid 

Her face, unmoving sat. 
And though the rain had soaked her flaxen mat, 
And slowly down the silken tresses slid, 
That fell neglected on the ground * 
Though in the silence as they slipped, 
The unkindly drops of dew 
Audibly dripped and dripped — 

She felt it not, nor knew. 
The only sight or sound 
She saw or heard around, 
Was that lost voice, that vanished face 
That once had glorified the place ; 
And now, in such a torturing maze 
Of tender recollections, wound 
Her burning brain, her breaking heart ; 

The past to life appeared to start 
In vivid hues too beautiful to bear ! 
Her vanished Bliss seemed over her to glare, 
A deadly-terrible Angel lovely-bright, 

With outspread wings ablaze 
Above her hung ■ — till blasted by its light 
Down— down — she cowered — she sank — in misery's blackest 
night. 



44° Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxiv. 



How the gleam iridescent and shapeless — that lies 

Like the Wreck of a Rainbow flung crushed on the skies 

In the rack of the tempest, low down where it flies, 

With its hues dimly blurred ; — to the mariner drear, 

How forlornly it bids the fair vision appear 

Of the Arch all resplendent ! the luminous Bow 

In the glory of orange and purple aglow ; 

On the thick of the violet shadow behind 

In rounded perfection so sharply defined ; 

So airily tender — transparently mild, 

Yet so firmly enthroned o'er the elements wild ; 

So softly aspiring, so gracefully grand, 

On the air, like a rock, it has taken its stand, 

And lords it serenely o'er ocean and land !— 

Even so — as she lay overwhelmed by despair 

Wan, weary and haggard — crushed, cowering there, 

Even so — and so sadly ! her woe-begone mien 

Might have roused the remembrance of what she had been 

When the Maid in the maddening days that had flown 

In the bloom and the pride of her happiness shone ! 

in. 
A hand upon her shoulder laid, 
With sudden startling pressure stayed 
Her anguish in its mid career ; 
Though not the slightest sound betrayed 
A human being's presence near. 
Twas Kangapo ! who silent crept 
Upon her, thinking that she slept ; 
Till as he neared the weeping maid, 
Her heart-wrung moans the truth conveyed. 






canto xxiv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 441 

To aid the northern Chiefs designs, and make 
The conquest sure which his revenge would slake ; 
To spy into the schemes the people planned 
To meet the invaders of their threatened land ; 
But most, with well-feigned tale and crafty lie 
To lull them into false security ; 
The wily Priest had ventured back once more — 
Safe in the sorcerer's dread repute he bore — 
To prowl about the country, gather news, 
And disaffection, where he could, diffuse ; 
Hiding the while, and less from need than taste, 
In many a well-known haunt of wood and waste. 

When Amo raised in wild surprise 

Her tear-bedabbled face and eyes, 

And saw whose form above her hung ; 

Whose spiteful, cool, triumphant leer 

Into her grief would pry and peer, 

Indignant to her feet she sprung : 

" You, Kangapo ! and wherefore here ? " 

" Nay, rather — " was the answering sneer, 

" Say what has brought to such disgrace, 

Such evil plight, so lone a place, 

The Stranger's Love — the white man's bride ! 

Has he, whose pale and girlish face 

Could win, despite her birth and race, 

Her tribe's renown — her father's pride, 

The Maori maiden to his side — 

Has he turned false, or fled — or died ? " 

" Ask nought of him ; no mate of thine ; 
Thy course pursue — leave me to mine ! " 



44 2 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxiv. 

" Nay — listen, Amo ! let me tell — " 

" Away ! I know thy wiles too well ! " — 

No longer now his darkening brow 
And coldly-glittering eye instilled 
The terror that, whene'er he willed 
Had once the Maiden's bosom chilled. 
The might of one supreme despair 
Would let no lesser passion share 
That bosom ; one absorbing care 
Had left no room for terror there. 
She sought not to upbraid, reply ; 
Too sad for scorn, she turned to fly. 
He saw his words their purpose missed, 
Yet would not from his aim desist ; 
" Not listen ! so resolved to go ! — 
Think not you shall escape me so ; — 
Think not I've no assistance nigh ! — " 
With sudden grasp he seized her wrist 
And shouted. Then once more her eye 
Shot forth its proud indignant light ; 
Her form expanded to full height ; 
She looked almost as when she stood 
A captive bound beside the wood 
When first she dazzled Ranolf 's sight ; — 
Yet now so haggard, wan and worn, 
By grief of so much beauty shorn, 
Not much more like that Vision bright 
Of anger-flashing loveliness, 
Than some too early perished Tree, 
A silver skeleton pourtrayed 
Against the mountain's violet shade, 






canto xxiv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 443 

Like its own former self would be, 
In luxury clad of leafy dress : — 
In sunlit symmetry of frame, 
And every sinuous branch the same ; 
But all the wealth wherewith it shone 
Of blossom gay and verdure— gone ! — 
The wrist he held — she wrenched it free, 
And flung him off with all her might : 
He reeled — he stumbled — staggered back ; 
Nor had he seen how near he stood, 
To that fierce cauldron, sputtering black 
And baleful — ever-boiling mud — 
Beneath the phantom-shapes of rock 
That seemed to gibber, jeer and mock : 
The treacherous bank began to crack — 
Gave way — and with a sullen plash 
He plumped into the viscous mash ; 
The sable filth upspurted high — 
Foul steam in thicker volumes gushed ; 
Then back the burning batter rushed 
And closed o'er that despairing face 
Upturned in blue-lined agony, 
Those writhing limbs — that stifled cry ! 
Then heavily swelled into a cone, 
Sunk down ; and ring on ring a space 
In sluggish undulations rolled ; 
And thicklier rising crowds alone 
Of bubbles, of that horror told ; 
Though just as lazily they burst, 
And not more poisonous than at first 
Their old sulphureous stench dispersed. 



444 Ranolf and Atnokia. [canto xxiv. 

Shocked, horrified, at sight so dread 
Swift through the thicket Amo sped : 
So rapidly had all occurred, 
Well might what she had seen and heard — 
That Sorcerer's apparition — then 
And there — in that secluded glen, 
And his swift disappearance, seem 
Illusions of a hideous dream. 



IV 

Again her journey she pursues. 
Her thoughts come back to their accustomed train : 
" Only to save him — only make him know, 

Although her joy — her life — her love she lose — 

No other Maid could love him so !" — 
Still fell the sad, slow, melancholy rain ; 
And though the white mist hid sky, mountain, plain, 
Yet somehow seemed it, on her weary brain 
The sunshine of that awful morn 
When Ranolf last she saw and left — 
Still lay — a solemn sombre light forlorn ; — 
Ever she seemed to wander woebegone 
Through endless mazes of a forest lone 
All stripped and bare, of every leaf bereft ; 
While far above her, through the treetops high 

That, leafless, yet shut out the sky, 
A loud monotonous wind for ever roared, 
And those strange, dreary, sombre sunbeam's poured ; 
While in the foreground only could be seen 
The lover and the love-joy that had been ! 
And every actual outward sight and sound, 
Men, women, places, voices all around, 



canto xxiv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 445 

Came faintly breaking through this muffling screen, 
This sad bright curtain that would intervene ; 
And only for a moment, face or speech 
Importunate of others, could emerge 
Through that drear desolate light and murmur loud, 
As through an ever-circling shroud — 
And her preoccupied perception reach 
And on her absent mind their presence urge. 



On — on ! for days as by a dream oppressed — 
Still on — by one idea absorbed — possessed ! — 
Directly in her way 
A broad and swollen river lay : 
Her road led through the shallows by its bank, 
"Where yellow waters eddying swirled 
Through flax-tufts waving green and tall and rank ; 
But in the midst the raging torrent hurled 
Its waters swift, direct, and deep, 
Where often some uprooted tree would sweep — 
A great black trunk unwieldy — hastening down 
The flood surcharged with clayey silt ; 
And dip and heave and plunge and tilt 

Half buried in the wavelets brown. 
She paused — but something in her breast 
Still urged her on : — she could not rest : 
And then those friends whom Kangapo addrest — 
Might they not still her course arrest ? 
What if they still should be upon her track — 
Would they not meet her if she ventured back ? — 
She tore her mantle off in haste, 
And rolled it up, and tightly tied 
With flax, and slung it round her waist ; 



446 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxiv, 

Then wading, struggled through the high sword-grass 
And streambowed tortured blades — a tangled mass, 
And struck into the torrent fierce and wide ! 

Alas ! no strength of limb or will, 
No stoutest heart, no swimmer's skill 
Could long withstand the headlong weight and force 
Of that wild tide in its tumultuous course ! — 
Soon was she swept away — whirled o'er and o'er — 
And hurried out of conscious life 
Almost without a sense of pain or strife. 



And if that self-forgetting Life was passed, 
To peace, it seemed, it had been lulled at last. 

For one who by the river's side 
Far lower down, that day by chance descried 
A floating form he could not aid, 
Glide swiftly by, soon after said 
The Maiden lay, as past she hied, 
Upon her back as on a quiet bed. 
Her eyes were closed — the lashes long and sleek, 
Reposing on the placid cheek ; 
Along the yellow waters wild 
Her jet-black tresses softly streamed ; 
And though careworn, just then it seemed, 

Her face was so serene and mild, 
So mournful, yet with meek content so deep, — 
She looked an innocent Child, 
Laid on its couch asleep. 



canto xxiv.] Ranolf and Amokia. 447 



And that informant told them how they found, 
Cast on the gravel by the riverside, 

The body of the Maiden drowned. 

Alas, for Ranolf ! in his passionate pain 
That image ever was before his brain 
In terrible distinctness night and day ! 
With pertinacious torture self-applied 
How would he conjure up to his despair, 
And paint with accurate anguish-seeking care 

Its harrowing details o'er and o'er again ! 
How, while the river ran its calm career, 
From the spent freshet's fury once more clear ; 
All heartless Nature, bright, alive and gay 
With its accustomed, gentle, joyous stir — 
How then they found — O say not her / 
She could not be the form that lay 
So stilly — half above and half beneath 
The shallow, bright, transparent stream, 
Upon the clean smooth gravel bank 
From which it slowly shrank : 
Such mournful meek content upon the face 
That you could think it for a little space 
Lit by some sadly-pleasing dream ; 
But then so marble-like and motionless — 
Persistent in intensest quietness — 
Too soon the moulded lineaments you know 
Fixed in the dread serenity of death. 
One quiet arm the peaceful head below — 

While ever in its flow 
The eddying current would come up and play 
With the long tresses — as to coax away 



448 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxiv. 

And lure the floating tangles to and fro ; 
While others, in the sunshine dried, 
The idle breeze at times would lift aside 

Gently — then leave at rest, 

Where curling they caressed 

The cold unheaving breast ; 
Or revelled in the doss and gleam of life, 

As if in mockery spread 
Along the form that lay as still and dead 
As any of the logs of driftwood rife, 

By the decreasing tide 

Left near it as it fled. — 
But piteous — O how piteous ! there to see 
The wavelets in their sunny chase 

In that deserted place — 
Upon the bank exposed and lone, 
With such an inward-happy sound, 

Familiarly and carelessly 
Gurgling against and rippling round 
The sad and sacred human face, 

As if it were a stone. 

And had he any comfort in the thought, 
The sight his fancy clung to might have brought 
To one who could more calmly think ? — 
" That sad — sad face ! as there it lay 

Beside the river's brink, 
So calm, neglected — helpless — meek — 
Would not its silence seem to speak — 
In mournful whispers seem to say, 
For such a heart, for such a soul, 
This cannot be the end— the whole ! — 



canto xxiv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 449 

" But O ! great God of heaven ! 

If in the poor dead face of one 
Slight savage girl who thus has given 
Her life's light for another's good in vain — 
All her high hopes and generous aims undone ! 
If in its stony stillness and fixed woe, 
All the more harrowing for the mournful show 
Of sad resigned repose on mouth and brow — 

If from that face, in very deed, 
Such obstacle and protest and disdain 
Arise against the desolating creed 
Of soul-annihilation in the disarray 
And dissolution of our worthless clay — 
what a vast Himmalayan pinnacle-chain 
Of insurmountable obstruction Thou 
Hast thrown in the pale spectral Conqueror's way ; 
And what a boundless protest has been wrung — 
(Although to absolute Love's all-pitying eyes 
The humblest instance would the whole comprise) 
A protest myriad-voiced as Ocean's roar, 
Compelled to just Omnipotence to soar, — 
In all the baffled lives and labours flung 
Ungrudgingly thy great White Throne before— 
The death-requited sacrifices through all time 
Made in thy cause by hero-hearts sublime ! 



" Yet what a thought it is, O God ! that we 
But by the incredible cruelty of Fate 

Ordained by Thee, 
Are by a strong revulsion forced to flee 
To Reason's refuge in her grief, 
The astounding beautiful belief 

29 



450 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxiv. 

In Death reviving to some glorious state 
Which all that cruelty shall compensate ! — 
Say, that it is so, and must ever be, 
By Nature's strong necessity ; — 
As air plunged deep in water still must rise, 
So, plunged in Life, the Soul to the Eternal flies !- 
And if it be denied 
That Nature — which is Thou ! 
Does that necessity provide, 
Even Doubt must still avow 
It should be so provided — must and should — 
If Thou art what Thyself hast made us to call good. 
Or if at last Doubt will remain 
What more ? but it is plain, 
Faith has to be created — self-resigning Trust 
In Thee — the all-generous and just ; 
And Trust like that, for aught we know, 
Can but in the absence of Assurance grow ; 
Can but be strengthened to the due degree 
By actual plunging in the furnace-glow 
And wavering flames of forced Uncertainty : 

The Soul can but be fashioned so, 
Into the shape of Beauty, and substance clear 

Of crystal Confidence sincere — 
The form and fineness its high fates require ; 
As the glass-worker whirls and moulds 
Into a graceful vase, the glass he holds 
Molten in jets intense of fierce white fire." 



VI. 

Ah no ! but no such speculation now 
Could smooth the agony on Ranolf's brow. 



canto xxiv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 451 

And so he may depart, 
And bind up as he can his bleeding heart ; 
And moan his lovely wild-flower reft away, 
With unresigning anguish night and day ; 

And gnash his teeth and tear his hair, 
Untaught to bear ! 
And for a time his faith in joy forswear ; 

And feel how vain 
Is poor Philosophy to stifle pain ; 
How impotent against the ready sting 
Of every trivial and inanimate thing, 
That seems to start up eloquent everywhere, 
More poignant memories of the Lost to bring — 
All leagued with Love to drive him to despair ! 
Not only the brief words she left to tell 
The motive and the purpose of her flight, 
Scratched upon shining flax-blades with a shell, 
And laid to meet — but not too soon — his sight ; — 
Ah ! how it tore his heart — that simple scrawl — 
Pothooks and hangers painfully produced — 
Disjointed — childlike ! yet a wonder all, 
In one to symbolled language so unused, 
And with such marvellous aptitude acquired ; 
The tenfold talent by the heart inspired ; 
Docility no school but one e'er knew — 
Whose teacher Love, has Love for learner too ! 
Not these alone — but every object round 
Had silent power and pungency to wound : 
The withered wreaths of flowers hung up with care 
Which for his pleasure she so loved to wear ; 
The span-board mirror on the reeded wall 
That oft had imaged such a happy smile, 
And so much beauty, on its surface small ; 



452 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxiv. 

The broidry-staves her tedium to beguile — 
Rude with still-dangling vary-coloured strands j — 
Half-charred mid ashes white, the very brands 
Left lying where her loving busy hands 
Had laid them on that latest fire extinct— 
Ah, with what torturing memories were they linked ! 
Ah, those dumb things — how deeply did he feel 
The maddening pathos of their mute appeal ! 

Yes ! let him wrestle with distress ; 
And feel how grief grown languid, though not less, 

In the exhaustion of mere weariness, 

Renews itself from its excess ; — 

Learn how the heart bereft of one beloved, 

Will, self-upbraiding, .self-reproved, 

In bitterest grief feel bitter grief, 
Because its grief seems all too slight and brief ; 
Because it cannot grieve enough — nor feed 
The ravenous appetite for woe the sense 
Of its immeasurable loss will breed — 
Thirsting for grief more crushing — more intense ; 
Recoiling from the hateful thought, that e'er 

The time should come when it may bear 
To think upon such loss, and not despair ! 

VII. 

Yet should he long endure 

Such pangs and pains, be sure 
He must escape them — being left alive ; 
For the old joyous temper must revive. 
The clouds of Anguish o'er the blue would drive 
And hide — but not annihilate the Sun : 
Grief has a work to do — which must be done. 



canto xxiv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 453 

Though o'er his Soul the waves of Sorrow surge, 

That buoyant joyous Nature must emerge 

By animal force into a realm more bright ; 

And that reflective tendency would urge 

His Soul — long after — into peaceful light. 

And he would first experience — and then know, 

How great a purger of the Soul is Woe ; 

A fine manipulator skilled to drain 

The Spirit of the grosser atmosphere 

Which can alone give life to and sustain 

Prides — lusts — ambitions — passions fierce and vain ; 

Until the heart is a receiver clear, 

Exhausted of the elements they need, 

And wanting which, they droop and disappear. 

Aye ! he would prove, by God's great scheme the seed 

Of Soul best in the soil of Sorrow grows ; 

And that such pangs and tortures are indeed 

Sharp chisel-strokes and heavy mallet- blows 

Wherewith the grand Soul-Sculptor cleaves and chips 

His native marble into nobler shapes : 

And as the mallet swings and chisel trips, — 

Out from the sluggish cold chaotic heap 

Wherein as possibilities they sleep, 

Out come, emerging from their long eclipse 

Into vitality that, kindling, glows 

Ever more clear, significant and deep — 

Heroic white Existences, serene 

And lovely, which the divine Artist drapes 

With qualities his great Idea must mean 

Should make his glorious marbles fit to be 

Shrined in high temples of Eternity. 



454 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxiv. 

And he would learn, when calmly could be viewed 

What sad results from simple love ensued, 

How foresight — prudence — cold considerate powers 

We need for guidance of this life of ours : 

To follow instincts — doing ill to none — 

Nay — loving everything beneath the sun — 

This will not do — it seems ! 
Alas ! — for such the World with misery teems. 

But this — all this would be for Time to teach ; 

A goal his fortitude not yet may reach. 
All he has now to do is to depart 
And bind up as he may his bleeding heart. 



canto xxv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 455 



CANTO THE TWENTY-FIFTH. 



Depart then, Ranolf! leave to Grief and Time 

The task to cleave out, in some other clime 

Less fraught with frenzied thoughts, their ends sublime ! 

Even Sorrow could not here its fruits mature — 

Not here — nor now ; for Change and Time, be sure, 

Are needed to assist it in its Art 

Of Soul-Tuition. This by theory too, 

Though spurning now the power of both, he knew; 

And felt his only course was to depart. 

The land seemed loathsome to his laden heart ; 

Sick — sick he was ; aweary of the skies ; 

The Mountains seemed to look him in the face — 

Cold — calm and sullen, conscious of his woe ; 

Each shrub and tree that once had charmed him so, 

Turned wormwood with the thoughts it bade him trace : 

And every River rolled before his eyes, 

A Mara-flood of bitterest memories. 

When the first shock of Amo's death was o'er, 
And he could rouse himself to act once more, 
With but one lad his light effects to bear, 
He started for some Northwest harbour, where 
Vessels that haunt these latitudes repair. 



45 6 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxv. 

A Ship he sought ; but cared not whence it came, 

Or whither bound : to him it was the same, 

So that away, far distant, he were borne : 

All lands seemed now of all attractions shorn ! 

Perhaps, as most deserted and forlorn, 

The barren, dreary, ever-restless Sea, 

Would to his desolate Soul most soothing be. 

His road was nearly that which Amo chose, 

In search self-ruinous of ruthless foes ; 

Not that he sought with conscious aim the more 

To take that path because 'twas her's before : 

His unresigning anguish could not crave 

To see, or seek for solace at her grave ; 

Herself — herself! the vain demand — nought less — 

His greedy grief insatiable would press ; 

Not any maddening circumstance or scene 

To rouse remembrances of what had been — 

Too prompt already, manifold and keen ! 

Yet haply he was guided on the whole, 

By that attraction of his secret soul ; 

A bias, though unconsciously, obeyed, 

Towards even the shadow of that loved one's shade — 

Towards any place her sweetest presence still 

With haunting fondness sadly seemed to fill. 

When near the coast, they told him of a Ship 
Whose Master would ere long his anchor trip ; 
For three years' chase of his gigantic game, 
Run down o'er boundless Ocean hunting-grounds, 
With hardy boats'-crews for his well-trained hounds — 
In that most venturous, gravest, grandest Sport 
Which makes all others seem contracted — tame — 






canto xxv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 457 

Had now his Ship with ample produce stored. 
And so he was about to leave the Port — 
Wood — water — fresh provisions all on board — 
And cut his boisterous crew's rude revels short. 

11. 
Sad, weary, listless, and alone — 
For nought companionship had cheered — 
'Twas Ranolf's habit through the day 
To take his solitary way, 
Letting Te Manu choose his own. 
Before him now the Port appeared : 
There — with dim spire of masts and shrouds, 
And yards across like streaky clouds, — 
The Ship he sought at anchor lay. 
Crowning a cliff that overstooped 
The sea — whence trees o'erhanging drooped, 
The village stood the Wanderer neared. 
With rows of posts, unequal, high, — 
That level crest against the sky 
Was bristling; and within them grouped, 
Thick thatch-roofs nestled peacefully. 

Woeworn and weary, then he went 
Thoughtfully up the steep ascent; 
And passed the log, rough-hewn and laid 
For bridge across the empty fosse ; 
And paused before the opening made 
For entrance in the palisade. 
He looked around ; upon the spot 
He saw no living being stirred : 
Fast-closed was every silent cot ; 
The sun was shining, high and hot — 



45 8 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxv 

A lingering summer afternoon ; 
Faint insects hummed a drowsy tune 
At times — no other sound was heard. 



In doubt what course he should pursue, 

On sad and gloomy thoughts intent, 

With folded arms and head downbent, 

Against an entrance-post he leant. 

Not far below, there hung in view 

That immemorial red-blue gleam 

Of world-embracing Ocean-fame — 

The flag that long shall float supreme, 

Let all of English blood and name 

Be to each other staunch and true ! 

Ah, with what sense of proud delight, 

So long unseen, a short time back 

That flag had flashed upon his sight ! 

But now it bade his memory track 

The train of evils that had come 

Out of that longing for his home. 

Well might his heart so busied, feed 

On bitter anguish ; well might bleed 

"Remembering why he shunned to share 

That home with her ! He could not bear 

Nor blink the truth, the cause, to-day — 

Contemptible and coward care 

Of what ' the World ' might think or say — 

That blatant — brainless — soul-less World ! 

Ah with what scorn he would have hurled 

Such pitiful respect away, 

Had one more chance been given to prove 

How much he prized that priceless love ! 



canto xxv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 459 

O but one chance — giv'n then and there 
The ' World ' and all its slaves to dare ! 
With measureless defiance brave 
Its worthless worst rebukes, and save 
A heart, so simply grand, beside 
Its poor conventions, paltry pride ; 
Refined frivolities — and cant, 
The natural course, or worse, the want 
Of real emotions, framed to hide !— 
Aye ! but too late that wisdom came ; 
The shame, too late, of that mean shame ; 
Remorse, and withering self-disdain, 
Too late and impotent and vain ! 
There was nought left him but to rave 
With voiceless, useless, inward pain. 
His trust in higher things was gone — 
His ' Power Divine ' — his ' God of good,' 
What faith in Him could he retain ! 
It seemed to his despairing mood, 
Faith could not, should not, live alone 
When Hope and happiness had flown. 

On such distressful thoughts intent, 

Against that entrance-post he leant. 

Forlorn alike to eye and ear 

Seemed time and place and atmosphere ! 

With wearying, bright unchanging glow, 

The calm, regardless sunbeams shone ; 

With wearying faintly-changeful flow 

The insects' tune went murmuring on ; 

No sign of living thing beside ; 

Not even a dog's out-wearied howl ; — 

Yes — once his listless eye espied 



460 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxv, 

Scarce noting it, a sleepy fowl 
Ruffling its feathers in the dust ; 
Corapanionless — the moping bird, 
Stalking and pecking leisurely 
Beneath a cottage wall, went by ; 
No longer were its mutterings heard. 
Yes — once a rat, in open day 
Stole forth, and crossed at easy pace 
The silent solitary place ; 
Stopped often, shewing no distrust 
Nor any haste to slink away. 
It too had vanished. Still fast-shut, 
In sunshine stood each silent hut : 
And dark, distinct, beside it lay 
Its shadow still — no cloudlet slow 
Passing, to make it come or go — 
Unfading — seeming changeless too 
As if it neither moved nor grew, 
That lingering, loitering afternoon. 
Then even the murmuring, dreamy tune, 
That now would swell and now subside, 
Awhile in utter silence died. 



Fair Reader ! have you ever been 
Sauntering in meditative mood, 
In some sequestered sunny scene, 
Some perfect solitude serene, 
Where tenantless a building stood — 
Old ruined Castle, if you will — 
Neglected Hall of recent days, 



canto xxv.] Ranolf and Atnohia. 461 

Though fit for habitation still, 
Long empty ; — any place almost 
Where human beings once have dwelt 
And ceased to dwell ; — but if your gaze, 
On such deserted Mansion lone 
Were fixed awhile, will you not own 
How strong a fancy you have felt, 
That some still human visage — ghost 
Or not — through one blank window, less 
Observed — or loophole's high recess — 
With eyes in vague abstraction lost, 
Not marking, minding you at all — 
Was looking out ? — Did you not feel 
As if you saw or soon would see, 
A lonely Figure, silently, 
With features, haply, undiscerned 
Because its back towards you was turned, 
Across some empty courtyard steal — 
Or glide beneath some ruined wall ? — 



As Ranolf leant there so distrest, 

Once, with a writhe of ill-represt 

Impatient anguish, at the tide 

Of keen regrets which o'er his breast — 

Remorseful, merciless, upheld 

By that full moon of memory, swelled — 

As wearily his head he raised, 

His glance unconscious chanced to rest 

Upon a distant cot — whose side 

Of close-packed wisps of bulrush dried, 



462 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxv. 

Stood half in brightness — half in gloom ; 
The sunbeam's glow still bright below — 
Its upper part, in clear deep shade, 
Beneath some palm-trees' tufts of bloom, 
With a square opening in it, made 
For light — a window though unglazed ; 
And suddenly he seemed aware 
A wan pale face — how wan and fair, 
Was in the square of blackness there, 
With eyes unmoving— eyes all light — 
So preternaturally bright — 
Haggardly beautiful ! — Amazed, 
His very heart turned sick and faint ; 
Almost he could have fallen with fear — 
That Spirit from the Dead — so near ! 
He rallied quickly ; for he knew 
How fancy can send back again, 
Some image from the heated brain, 
And on the retina repaint 
Such apparitions, till they seem 
External, actual, and no dream. 
He passed his hand across his eyes ; 
Sprang forward ; shook himself to free 
His fancy from such phantasies, 
His brain from this delusion. There, 
Framed in the blackness of that square, 
Still shewed the visage, haggard, fair, 
And would not vanish into air ! — 
And then it changed before his sight ; 
A sudden gleam of wild delight 
Illumed it ; the next moment checked, 
As from the Vision seemed to come 
A shriek that died off in a moan — 



canto xxv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 463 

Painful, unnatural — as the tone 

Wrung from the wretched deaf and dumb 

Whom sudden pangs of passion stir. 

Then to the hut — for nought he recked — 

" What could it be ? " he thought, " but her / " 

He would have rushed ; but yet once more 

Those earnest gestures — looks — deter ; 

So vehemently they implore, 

So unmistakably entreat 

Silence — and that he should not greet — 

Heed — recognise the vision then. 

For the same moment might be seen 

Behind him, close upon the fence, 

What stifled as it rose, that keen 

Great cry of joy or pain intense ; — 

The inmates of the village — men 

And women and a merry crowd 

Of children ; all with laughter loud 

Returning from the plot where they 

Within the woods not far away 

Had been at pleasant work all day. 



in. 
With lips comprest — clenched hand — knit brow — 
By violent effort he restrained 
Emotions nigh o'ermastering now. 
He turned — accosted them — explained 
In terms he scarce knew what, but brief, 
To one who seemed to be their Chief 
Why he had come to that seaport. 
At once they knew their guest unknown 
Must be, from bearing, mien and tone, 



464 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxv. 

Though roughly drest and travel-stained, 

A " Rangatira" * — of the sort 

Who paid for all attentions shewn : 

So to his use a cot assigned ; 

Brought food ; and as he seemed inclined 

For little converse, or to care 

About themselves or ways ; or share 

The interest newer comers take 

In all that might the curious wake 

To wonder ; but appeared to be 

Absorbed in troubles of his own ; 

They soon with truest courtesy 

Left him to his reflections lone. 

And all that evening, in a maze 

He seemed : a sort of luminous haze 

Of anxious, wondering, strange delight 

Moved with him, move where'er he might : 

Nor could he lie, or sit, or stand, 

Or many moments keep at rest, 

Howe'er he strove at self-command. 

He closed his eyes — his temples pressed ; — 

That light, for all his efforts vain 

Still hovered o'er his haunted brain : 

And once, in this his feverish fret, 

He checked himself in looking round 

As half expectant he would yet 

See, though long since the sun had set, 

His shadow fall upon the ground. 

And oft he tried if he could still 

By strong exertion of the will 



* ' Chief or Gentleman. ' 






canto xxv.] Ranolf and AmoJiia. 465 

Make that fair, haggard vision rise 

Again, and stand before his eyes 

With such a sharp external show 

Of life, and every feature, so 

Distinct in joy, surprise, or woe ! 

That face, so sweet, though so careworn, 

And of its brilliant beauty shorn ; 

The hollow cheek ; the shrunken hand ; 

And the too delicate finger laid 

Upon the faded lips ; and grand 

All wonder, joy, or woe above — 

That deep unfathomable love 

In eyes whose brightness could not fade ! 

Yes ! he could shape them in his mind ; 

But overjoyed was he to find 

No yearning made the illusion dear 

As real or outward reappear. 

IV. 

Night came at last ; at last ev'n midnight came. 
How wearily the hours for Ranolf passed — 
On tenterhooks of expectation cast — 
Such incomplete and tantalising joy ! 
But even the noisy natives sunk at last 
To rest — the earlier for their day's employ. 
The Sittings to and fro, from hut to hut, 
Ceased by degrees, and every door was shut ; 
The laughter loud and lazy chat were o'er ■ 
The smouldering firesticks on each earthen floor 
Had for the last time been together raked, 
And blown with lips far-pouted, to a flame ; 
The last pipe smoked : and the consuming thirst 
For gossip haply for the moment slaked. 



466 Ranolf and Aniohia. [canto xxv 

The large-limbed lounging men upon the ground, 
Naked whene'er the heat too great was found ; 
And every active, restless, wrinkled dame, — 
Crowded in some convenient house at first, 
Had to their separate homes retired to sleep ; 
And all the ' pah ' was wrapt in silence deep. 

Then Ranolf, with a quicker-throbbing heart, 
Watched in the cot consigned to him apart ; 
With door ajar, and sharp attentive ear 
Watched — listened for the faint delicious sound— 
The footstep that he felt must now be near. 
— A rustle . . . No ? — 'twas fancy ! — then more clear 
Another ! — 'Tis herself! with that wan face, 
Locked in his almost fiercely fond embrace ! — 
Yes, 'tis herself ! and never, come what may, 
Shall she be torn from that fond heart away ! 
And She — into his arms herself she flung 
With what a burst of passionate sobs ! and hung 
Upon his neck with moans of happiness ; 
And felt once more his vehement caress, 
With what an ecstacy of soothing tears ! 
And revelled in the burning kiss on kiss, 
With such intense relief from doubts and fears ; 
Such sense of infinite agony supprest, 
Swallowed, like night in lightning-sheets — in this, 
This full fruition of exceeding bliss — 
As if upon the heaven of that breast 
Her soul had reached its everlasting rest ! 

But when the Sea of their emotions ran 
In less tumultuous billows, and began 
In gentler agitation to subside, 



canto xxv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 467 

So that clear Thought and Speech articulate 

Above the tide unwrecked could ride ; 
Then Ranolf, holding at arms' length awhile 
His new-found treasure, his recovered bride, 
Gazes with mournful gladness in his smile — 
Gazes with fond and pitying tenderness — 
At those thin pallid features, which the weight 
And anguish of despair no more depress — 
Into those eyes which happy tears beteem — 
As to make sure it was not all a dream ! 

" No Spirit then ! — my own 
Own Amo, loving and alive again ! 
O God ! can such delight indeed be mine !" — 

" No Spirit— no — nor dead ; but with the pain 
To lose thy love ; and thought of that alone 
Would kill me any time — " 

" Then never think 
The thought ; the thing itself, my dearest, best, 
Shall never be a grief of thine ! " 

" What ! you will never be distrest 
For want of all that sunset-tinted snow 
And hair, such as the moonbeams link . . . 
What was it?" 

"Amo !— " 

" Nay, then nay — 
Not that upbraiding look to-day ! 
See ! o'er these dear, dear features, worn with care, 



468 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxv 

See, see ! my murmuring lips must stray 
With flying faint half-kisses, so 
To brush all that reproach away ! 
No, I will never doubt again — 
Do not these features, pale with grief, 
Do they not say my Stranger-Chief 
My lord, my life, will never choose 
His poor wild maiden's love to lose ? — 
But how then could you be so sad 
When I was with you ?" 

" I was mad — 
An idiot, dearest ! just to shun 
A small misfortune, so to run 
The risk of that o'erwhelming one 
By which I were indeed undone ! — 
But small and great shall soon be o'er, 
And neither shall afflict us more, 
If you will leave this land with me, 
And dare to cross yon starlit sea ! " 

" What is to me land, sea, or sky 
So that with you, I live and die ! " — 

Then soon a plan for their escape 
Was moulded into practicable shape : 
Only the pressing, first, immediate need 
Was that before these natives they should be 
Absolute strangers, nor each other heed. 
This need did Amo when she first caught sight 
Of Ranolf, feel — this, somehow could foresee ; 
And this perception made her first wild cry, 



canto xxv. J Ranolf and Amohia. 469 

That sudden cry of wonder and delight 
Die off in such a strange unmeaning moan. 

v. 

But she had told ere this, the how and why 

She had been saved, and now was here alone ; 

How it was true, by that wild freshet's force 

She was whirled down till consciousness was gone ; 

And soon upon a gravel-bank was thrown. 

How a chance Traveller saw the seeming corse ; 

Apprised these natives ; and observed them bear 

The breathless body home with sorrowing care, 

Home to their huts hard-by ; then went his way, 

Thinking her dead ; that nought required his stay ; 

And anxious by no loss of time to lose 

The importance, well he knew, none would refuse 

To the first bearer of such startling news. 

But those good Women, in the senseless Form 

They carried, saw or felt there yet might lurk 

Some faintest spark of life ; so set to work 

Its embers to re-waken and re-warm ; 

Made fires ; applied hot stones, and rubbed her feet 

And hands and heart with toil incessant ; poured 

Down her unconscious throat for greater heat 

Some of the white man's liquid fire ; implored 

With moaned and murmured incantations meet 

The Water-God and Storm-God ; till at length 

Her feeble fluttering pulse began to beat ; 

And that suspended current in her veins 

To run, and rack her, as it gathered strength, 

And prick with tingling tortures, pangs and pains, 

Far worse than any she in drowning felt. 

So with their patient patiently they dealt, 



4/0 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxv. 

And charmed and chafed her till to life restored. 

But with her life her first resolve returned ; 

And in her recklessness she let them know 

The scheme which to accomplish still she burned, 

To yield herself, ere he could strike a blow, 

To save her people, to her people's foe. 

How she repented soon that she had told 

Her secret : for the Chief, of no great name 

Or note, and doubtless of as little worth, 

Who ruled this petty village, stood, 

With that marauding magnate of the North, — 

Though some remote connexion he could claim, 

So she was told, by marriage or by blood — 

On terms of doubtful amity; and hence 

The crafty schemer was too glad to seize 

An opportunity like this to please 

The mightier potentate ; so forthwith hatched 

A plan — to feign he could not trust her tale ; 

And hold her captive, on the false pretence 

He did so to secure her without fail 

For the great Chief, until the last could say 

What was his will about her: then dispatched 

A trusty messenger that will to learn ; 

And issued strict commands, till his return 

Her every movement should be closely watched, 

Nor she permitted from the pah to stray. 

And thus the great man's favour would be won ; 

Besides that, for such shining service done, 

A splendid claim, he reckoned, would arise 

For ' utu ' — compensation or reward, 

The other could not fail to recognise. 

But she, determined not to be debarred 

From fully working out her first intent, 



canto xxv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 471 

To put both Chief and people off their guard, 

Affected in this plan to acquiesce ; 

Resolved whene'er their watchfulness grew less, 

As finding 'twas but trouble vainly spent, 

She would escape ; her lonely road resume ; 

Self-guided seek her self-inflicted doom ; 

The merit of her sacrifice retain, 

And greater power o'er proud Pomare gain. 

So at the village patiently she stayed ; 

Till all their first suspicions were allayed ; 

About her ways it seemed they little cared ; 

And she had everything for flight prepared : 

Nay, would that very night, unseen, unknown, 

Upon her errand of despair have flown ; 

Rushed on the fate she loathed, yet would have braved 

Had she not been, by gift of all she craved, 

This blest return of his affection, saved. 

VI. 

So, parting ere the dawn, with life renewed, 
The plan concerted, calmly they pursued. 
Two days they passed, eventless and serene, 
Each by the other seemingly unseen ; 
Or in what intercourse they chanced to hold 
Making a mock indifference, forced and cold, 
Their fervid interest in each other screen. 
In sad regards dissembling deep delight, 
Impassioned, with how passionless a mien, 
They crossed each other's path ! with loving slight, 
Hidden half-glances of such dear deceit — 
Unrecognising recognition sly and sweet ! 



47 2 ' Ranolf and AmoJiia. [canto xxv. 

Then Ranolf to his hosts kind farewell bade ; 
Much to their grief — so handsomely he paid ; 
Nor seemed to notice Amo was not there 
Just at the instant that farewell to share : 
Then went on board ; and found the busy Ship 
With cheery noise of near departure gay ; 
Sails shaken loose and anchor now atrip, 
Waiting the evening hour of ebbing tide ; 
Worked by the steadiest of the men — a few 
Exceptions to the riot-wearied crew — 
Who jaded with rude revel, listless lay, 
Nor longer to evade their duty tried, 
Content at last, or glad, to get away. 

Then down the harbour she was seen to glide, 
Past the bare windy outer heads sunbright, 
The glossy yellowish bluffs — into the blue : 
There on the dim expanse, she lingering lay 
With slowly changing attitudes, in sight, 
As if her stately beauty to display; 
Then, dwindling ever in the fading light, 
Looked, now a column sloping softly white, 
Now ruddy, blushing in the sunset's ray ; 
Till silently absorbed in growing grey 
She vanished — wrapt in close-encircling Night. 



VII. 

These moving moveless Mountains and still Main, 
Had nearly in their unfelt flight again 
Slipped from beneath tne funnel of deep shade, 
For ever shot from our Sun-circling ball, 



canto xxv.] Ranolf and Anwhia. 473 

Through which we peer into Infinity ; — 

Those four grand worlds tremendous which we call 

A Cross — and their immensity invade 

With faiths and fancies of our tiny Star, 

Seemed to have turned them in their watch on high, 

And changed the side from which to gaze afar 

On the dark Pole — the seeming vacant Throne 

Of One that Warder bright adored alone ! 

As in blue Syrian midnights long bygone, 

Some jewel-armoured Satrap Damascene, 

More from the fevered restlessness inspired 

By Love, than with his tedious vigil tired, 

Might oft have changed the spot where he would lean 

And keep his fierce enamoured glances, keen 

And glittering as his falchion, rapt and fast 

Upon the lattice-screen, whereat at last 

His maddening matchless quest — some miracle-Queen, 

In loveliness and learnedness and loftiness 

Of spirit, perfect as that Palmyrene — 

But one ecstatic moment might appear, 

Zenobia-like — too dazzlingly severe — 

And frown a sunrise on the love's excess 

Its glory could reward but not repress ! — 

Beneath the myriad eyes of that still Sky 

Cowering, the conscious Ocean seemed to lie, 

With faint soft murmuring, finely-wrinkled swell ; 

As if it scarcely dared to heave or sigh 

Beneath the fascination of their spell; — 

In brief, dear tortured Reader — it was near 

The dawn ; and Sea and Sky were calm and clear. 

Not far below the Port the Ship had left, 
The hills into a little cove were cleft j 



474 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxv 

The stony faces of the cliffs thus rent 
Showed twisted strata, strangely earthquake-bent, 
Running on each side circularly up — 
A great grey hollow like a broken cup ! 

\From crest and crevice, tortuously flung 
Those monstrous iron-hearted myrtles hung — 
Stiff snaky writhing trunks, and roots that clave 
And crawled to any hold the ramparts gave. 
Below, the level floor of sea-smoothed stone 
Was all scooped out and scored by wear and tear 
Of tides into round baths, and channels — bare 
Or with sea-windflowers, scarlet-ringed, o'ergrown : 
And big clay-coloured rocks and boulders, dropt 
From mouldlike hollows in the cliffs above, 
Where others like them sticking still, outcropped, 
Lay scattered round the margin of the cove. 

Look ! in the starlit stillness, there and then, 
A boat emerging from the gloom appears ; 
Rowed by four stalwart, darkling, silent, men, 
With muffled oars and faintest plash scarce heard ; 
No sound beside, but the rare muttered word 
Of brief command from him who mutely steers 
And keenly round him through the darkness peers. 
How cautiously her channelled way she feels, 
And towards the rocks above the tideline steals ! 
There with suspended oars the boatmen wait, 
Careful lest even their drip be heard ; the Chief 
Steps out and listens on the lonely reef; 
No sight — no sound of anything that lives — 
A ' cooey ! ' low and cautious, then he gives. 
See ! one of those clay-coloured rocks, descried 
Dimly from where, with boathook held, the skiff, 



canto xxv.] Remolf and Amohia. 475 

Lies gently tilting with the lapping tide, 

Seems, 'mid its dumb companions 'neath the cliff 

With life and motion suddenly endowed ! 

It rises — swiftly running — leaping o'er 

The stony-ribbed and channel-furrowed floor ; 

See ! 'tis a female form — a graceful shape 

Not even the clay-hued mats that thickly drape 

The head and shoulders, all the figure shroud — 

Can wholly hide ; and see ! as it draws near 

And Ranolf ('twas none other) runs to meet 

And with glad gesture greet the vision dear, 

Beneath the hood — this time no doubtful dream — 

Two great delighted sparkling eyes appear — 

A wan glad face appears, so wan and sweet, 

And kindling with triumphant love supreme ! 



An ardent pressure of the hand (before 

That crew) a whisper of fond cheer — no more ; 

And in the boat he makes her take her seat ; — 

" Push off, my lads — look sharp !" — and from the shore 

They steal ; while she, her trustful heart at last 

At peace, albeit from apprehension past 

Still fluttering with a somewhat quicker beat, 

Crouches by that loved form ; and by degrees 

With his rude comrades learns to feel at ease, 

Confiding in the rough respect she sees 

They pay to his sea-knowledge — ready hand — 

Firm lip — and eye accustomed to command. 

The men •' give way ' with vigorous strokes, nor fear 

Nor care, who now may see the boat or hear ; 

With hoisted sail to catch what airs there be, 

She soon is gently trampling through the sea. 



476 Ranolf and AmoJiia. [canto xxv. 

The Ship that in the offing, out of sight 

Had with scarce flapping canvas hung all night 

Becalmed, now as the breeze begins to rise 

With topsails backed and filled alternate, lies 

About one spot, till o'er the clearing main 

The boat returning is descried again ; 

Then, with her yards braced round, and fair inclined, 

She lets them curve out boldly to the wind, 

Tacks towards the boat, and soon receives on board 

The wondering Maid, to life and love restored ! 

How all this had been planned need we describe ? 
That night when Ranolf found the drowned alive ; 
How he had won, and hardly had to bribe 
The bluff Ship-Master's soon-accorded aid ; 
How, unobserved, while for the Ship he stayed, 
The neighbouring coast he carefully surveyed 
And found a cove whence they could well embark ; 
How 'twas agreed that Arno should contrive 
After the Ship's departure, in the dark, 
When towards the morning all were sunk in sleep, 
Out of the village secretly to creep, 
And to the spot he pointed out repair ; 
There wait until she saw his boat arrive ; 
And do the same, as he would — 'twas agreed — 
If obstacles were met with, and need were — 
Night after night, until they should succeed. 

VIII. 

Then, as some choice and cherished plant, erewhile 
A thousand-blossomed wonder and a show — 
Camellia or Azalea — one great pile 
Of rounded knots of lovely-moulded snow, 



canto xxv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 477 

Starring the glistening gloom of dark-green leaves 
With such luxuriance in simplicity, 
A purity so lavish and so free ; — 
Or one unbroken broad diaphanous flush 
Of delicate flow'rets, luminous and lush 
As they were fashioned of the finest blush 
Of light, the heart's core of soft summer-eves, 
The tenderest recess of sunset, weaves ; — 
As such a Plant — if set in hard-bound soil, 
Where cutting winds could wither and despoil, 
Till cankered leaves and scanty blooms declared 
How ill in such environment it fared ; 
But then again transferred from clay and cold, 
To some warm nook of mellow-crumbling mould ; 
Reviving and re-blooming, would outburst 
In all the glory it could boast at first : — 
. Even thus did Amo, and in days as few 
As this in months, her fairest charms renew ; 
Thus, rooted in the soil of rich Content, 
And breathing Love's serenest element, 
Recovered fast, elastic and erect — 
The sprightliness of form by sorrow checked ; 
Once more, its supple roundness, sinuous grace, 
- With slim and slender vigour chastely vied ; 
Her eyes regained their dancing lights — her face 
Its winning frankness — sweet and sunny pride ; 
Thus did she, brilliant as again a bride, 
The shape and hues of happy health resume, 
And all her wild magnificence of bloom ! 



So, with its loving freight, to scenes untold- 
As daybreak wrapt her in its rosy fold, 



478 Ranolf and AmoJiia. [canto xxv 

So — down and down, beneath the horizon's brink — 

Hull — sails — and masts — did that lone Vessel sink, 

And melt into the flood of morning gold. 

The Husband-lover and the lover-Wife 

Dipped down into the chequered deep of Life ! 

So vanished — gliding down the blue hill-slope 

Of Ocean into an abyss of Hope ; 

Plunged deep and deeper, every day that flew 

In golden gulfs of bright Expectance — new 

Experience — all of glad and glowing True 

Or glorious Seeming, that can soothe and bless 

Youth, Fancy, fondest Love, with dreams of Happiness ! 



IX. 

Well then — for this time — Ranolf has escaped 
The threatened doom, the shattering blow that might 
By that Soul-Sculptor's hammer have been dealt. 
Perhaps — who knows ? — there was no need to smite : 
Perhaps the marble could, with blow more slight 
Or shadow of that heavy one, be shaped : 
For he was of a nature that delight 
Could sooner than despair, refine and melt. 
Yet — never doubt it — Life and Time will teach 
Him too what they enforce on all and each ; 
That for all Souls, however richly dowered 
With amplest gifts by fate or fortune showered, 
Something, where to the full they seem possest, 
Will surely seem deficient in the best ; 
Or those that seem complete, will flit or fade 
Long ere the thirst they cause can be allayed ; 



canto xxv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 479 

As if their only end, undoubted, clear, 

Was to make one, old, world-wide Truth appear — 

Man ne'er shall find full satisfaction here ; 

To teach him — bound upon this earthly ball, 

The power and practice to renounce them all. 

Yes ! doubt it not ; he too in time will glean 
A glimpse so far into the mighty Plan, 
Into the working of this strange Machine 
The Universe ; and what mysterious ways 

The Wonder-worker takes to solve 
The problem he has set himself; to make 
His glorious World in one rich round revolve 
Of beauty and attractiveness ; yet wean 
By Good disguised as Evil — helpless Man 

Her nursling, from her lovely breast 

And bid him from the sleep awake 
Wherein contented else he would for ever rest. 



x. 

Now of his feelings in the after-day, 
Of all his findings by Life's varied way, 
But little further — little fuller — may 
This realistic record sing or say. 



First — for the tasks of Life ; — whate'er the sphere 
Wherein his fleeting forces may be spent 
Will he not learn, herein too, Life was lent 
But as one stage for our development ? — 
God's studio is this Earth, 



480 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxv. 

And we, his pupils, for instruction sent, 
Are pottering at our work of little worth 
But to attain to faculties that here 
Reach no perfection, or at least complete 
No works that seem for such perfection meet. 
How oft does mastery, even the most assured, 
Moral or mental, seem in vain secured ! 

Our poets — artists — heroes — those 
Whose ripening powers or ripened could not fail, 

Their transient tools and organs lose, 
Oft when their Souls seem fittest to prevail — 

Most apt for thoughts or deeds sublime ! 

As if their lives were but a blossoming time ; 
They students — and the works they leave, 

So far beneath what they conceive, 
But tyros' crude essays to what in vain 
Their growing Souls may long indeed 
In this life — but in this life are in train 

Only in larger — loftier to achieve ; 
Essaying here, but elsewhere to succeed. 
Till not alone the buds of beauty left 
By Nature's younger darlings, soon bereft 
Of life and lyre — too soon ! — a Shelley made 
All spirit — nay — frail spirit -tortured flesh, 
Self-fevering through false theories, griefs and heats 
And phantasms, to pure Spirit ; or a Keats, 
In senses for a human Soul too fresh 
And keen and fine, too dangerously arrayed — 
Our young-eyed Cherubim, who like poor bees 
Over a citron-blossom lifeless curled, 
Not half their honey gathered for the world, 
Died at their sweet vocation — O not these — 
Nor the rathe buds of amaranth they seize — ■ 



, 



canto xxv. J Ranolf and Amohia. 

But roses fully blown ; the gorgeous train 
Of bright humanities a Shakspeare's brain 
Bids into being, deathless and intense, 

With hue for hue, and gleam for gleam 
Reflecting God's creations till they seem 
The double Rainbow's second Arch, in stripe 
And stain as lovely as its archetype ! — 
Even these, to his great Spirit, taken hence 

Seem left but like the drooping coronet 
Of threaded anthers hanging still around 
Some tiny nectarine-fruit, green, newly-set ; 
The poor triumphant relic that once crowned 
Its flowering-time incipient, immature ; 
Just dropping from the fruit that must expand 
To golden richness in the radiance pure 
Of wider Skies and some diviner Land ! 

XL 

And as the Will Supreme intends 
Life's highest work as means, not ends : 
Its joys and pleasures, coarse— refined — 
Alike to be renounced — resigned ; 
Will he not feel at last, and see 
The more for every misery, 
The rolling seasons as they flee, 
To him too, as to all mankind 
Full surely will dispense — decree — 
That Life itself is meant to be 
Held loosely — lightly? — as one day 
W T hen he with Amohia gay 
Roamed in that earliest bliss of love, 
He held upon his open palm 
A slender beetle, silver-bright 

31 



482 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxv 

Beneath, all pure grass-green above ; 

And bade her come and look how fair 

The dainty creature, 'lighted there, 

And running to his finger-tip 

To gain a vantage-ground, to slip 

Off into air, its native balm ; 

" So should we hold this Life ' r he thought, 

So watch with interest, deep delight, 

The flitting thing with beauty fraught, 

Long as it lingers in our sight ; — 

So let it take, nor e'er repine, 

When go it must, its mystic flight, 

Into the limitless Divine ! " 

And he will feel — for such as he, 

Of healthy frame and reason free, 

Are more than most, secure to feel, 

As straight he steers through rocks and shoals, 

What haven rests for noble souls ! 

Yes, he will feel through woe and weal, 

The power of Time to soothe and heal ; 

And tune the Soul to full concent 

With its surrounding element. 

The wear and tear of right and wrong 

Less injure than befriend, the strong - 

And cheerful heart and chastened will 

Uplift them ; and Experience still 

Maturing, lends a master's skill, 

Life's rich Harmonium-reeds to sound, 

Once dumb, or so discordant found ; 

With easy stop some pain prevent ; 

With facile touches, lightly thrown, 

Give simpler pleasures fuller tone 



canto xxv. 1 Ranolf and Amokia. 483 

And from the ebon-ivory range 
Of chequered days and chance and change, 
Draw symphonies serene and strange, 
Melodious Music of Content. 
They gain, like fruits, as ripe they grow, 
More sweetness, with a sunnier glow ; 
Till, mellowing ever, they begin 
The faith as very truth to hold — 
The best of worlds is that wherein 
Is much of Evil, so-called ' Sin ' ; 
With active wish and earnestness 
To make that ' Sin ' and Evil less. 
So by degrees to Fate they mould 
The Will that seemed so uncontrolled ; 
And patience comes — and passions cool ; 
And where they once were ruled, they rule : 
Love's wing grows wider — Thought's more bold ! 
The iron bonds are turned to gold ; 
The chafing and restraint are past ; 
And what were chains at first, are ornaments at last. 

XII. 

And what if he one day shall see, nor dream — 

Though from the Soul's own intimate emotions 

It be conceded the profoundest notions 

Of the unfathomable unison 

Between it and the Universe be won — 

What if it grow with gathering years more plain, 

That the divine Developer's Life-Scheme 

Might yet by Science in her own domain, 

The Positive — that euphrasy and rhue, 

The mental vision from the mists to purge 

Of Speculation beyond Reason's verge — 



484 Ranolf and Amohia. [canto xxv, 

Be caught a glimpse of; with no logic-strain, 

Transcendent or empiric, or the twain 

United, over-subtle for sound brain ; 

But patient observation, record true 

Of all the agencies clear sight may trace 

Of Circumstance, beyond its own control 

That make and mould each individual Soul 

Of myriad myriads of the human race ;• — 

Of all the hints and seeming accidents, 

Felicitous and opportune events, 

Though slight, so often from without supplied, 

The balanced Will that seems so free, to guide ; 

And be the fountains of a cataract wide 

Involving the whole being in its tide ; 

All that strange Loom of Life that round us plays, 

That made the grand old Greek, beyond all praise, 

The wisest, bravest, best, of Ancient Days, 

Paint it a guardian Angel by his side — 

His prescient Diotima piteous-eyed ; 

All this shall make at last a Science grand 

Of Circumstance — no sceptic shall withstand, 

Wherein shall be perceived a law and laws, 

Not to be gathered from a single mind, 

But myriad inner histories combined ; 

And in the laws, clear purpose, conscious Cause. 

What ! shall the very Winds of heaven that rise 

And sink and run their seeming reckless round, 

Like Tartar cavalry scouring the wide skies, 

Intractable and trackless ! shall all these 

And every Storm that tears the limitless seas, 

Ranging the Ocean's amplitude — be found — 

Obedient to fixed Law — to Order bound ? — 

Shall all that shifting swift Aurora-dance, 



canto xxv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 485 

Those phantom revels round the secret Poles, 

Be set to God-made music that controls 

And bids each brilliant spasm up-leap and glance 

By happy rule — harmonious governance ? 

Yet this — Humanity's abounding Mould, 

The ever-active matrix manifold 

Of Spirit, restless round Earth's millions rolled, 

This vast Machinery for making Souls, 

Be but chaotic Force — the child of Chance ? — 

A vain surmise ! — but as that Law of Storms 

Cannot be gathered from a single breeze 

Or local gale ; so must a myriad forms 

Of lives and their environments be learned 

And disentangled ere can be discerned 

The law that flows round each, unguessed, unseen, 

Like fluid wool that through the ribbed machine 

Which looks so bare, so finely runs and fast 

O'er whirling cylinders, a viewless stream, 

Till in a visible flue scraped off at last : — 

Even so, the presence of a Power supreme 

Shall be detected as its subtle way 

It works throughout the infinite whirl and play 

Of ever-rolling restless Circumstance ; 

So from a million inmost beings scanned 

With cool and scrutinising vigilance 

That marks each motive whencesoever brought, 

Each faintest impulse from without them caught; 

So may at last material pure be won 

Whence ductile threads of reasoning may be spun, 

Which all the strain of logic shall withstand \ 

And such a radiant raiment woven alone 

By Intellect, as — warmly, widely thrown 

About the shivering Soul — shall make it feel 

Aglow with full assurance of eternal weal ! 



486 Ranolf and AmoJiia. [canto xxy. 



xiii. 
But still will he — the thoughtful — sanguine-hearted 
With greater zeal by Time and Life imparted 
Swear fearless fealty, in age as youth, 
To highest Reason and all-questioning Truth ! 
That Reason which must own 
Inferior truths alone 
Are yet within the range of proof, 
As wholly to be sifted, fathomed, known : 
While to some glimpses of the higher, 

That wake most wise desire, 
Soar as they may above us and aloof, 
Through Feeling checked by Reason we may still aspire ! 

And still will he exclaim, 
With thought as daring, earnestness the same : 
" O heat of loving Heart ! O Light of chainless Mind ! 
When will conviction flash on dull mankind, 
That you are One and True ; to doubt you, false and blind ! 
And O, thou One Ineffable ! O Being 

In infinite ubiquitous persistence 
By our conceptions inconceivable — to all our seeing 
Invisible ! yet forced upon us as unknown Existence 
By all Existence known ! O Thou 
The source of Soul and Nature, Man and Brute 
Whom in this sensuous deep thou dost immerse — 
Thou hast ordained that deep shall still avow 
Thyself — some shadow of Thyself reveal — 
Potent o'er inmost consciousness to steal ; 
A conscious brooding Presence — through thy Universe 
For ever everywhere intrusive — 
For ever everywhere elusive — 
Resistlessly suggestive, yet inexorably mute ! — 



canto xxv.] Ranolf and Amohia. 487 

Thou, in the very strangeness of the Mystery 
Of everything that is — this actual Here and Now — 
A mystery impenetrable — from the highest cope 
Of heaven with Astral Systems flung along its slope 

To the minutest microscopic spark 
Or speck of life obscure in air or earth or sea — 
Some viewless animalcule — such a vivid shield 
Of trembling rings of iridescent splendour 
The very Rainbow by its side would yield 
The palm — has no such glory to attend her 
As we are startled to find there, unseen 
By unassisted sense ; a glow 
Of Beauty and Power divine that, from below 
Rising to meet the Power and Beauty above 
That through those star-worlds limitless expand — 
Floods all the Universe with boundless Love ! 

Until we feel, we darkling men — 
So darkling in our nook of narrow days 
And cramping thoughts and creeping ways — 
As in the midst, stark-blind with light, between 
That Infinitesimal and Infinite we stand — 
Feel wholly plunged, enveloped in the blaze 

Of the abounding Presence then 
Of that creative Beauty and Power divine — 
Say rather, O Unnameable, of Thine ! — 
Yes ! in this Mystery, though dark as night 
Yet beautiful and wonderful beyond the scope 
Of utmost admiration ; yet a joy to mark 
And marvel at, exhaustless by all thirst 
For joy Thyself didst plant within us first; 
t Thou hast therein writ thy decree 
It shall for Man for ever be 
Inevitable to conclude Thee good and just ; 



488 Ranolf and AmoJiia. [canto xxv. 

Most rational to hold a boundless Hope; 
Most tenderly ennobling utterly to trust 

In the Omnipotence of Love and Thee ! 
Therefore we thank Thee ! therefore boldly say : 

' O Man ! thou momentary ray 
Shot from the hidden Splendour far away — 
Sheet-lightning gleam of a perceptive power 
Taking wide Nature's surface for its dower ; 
O phantom-puppet of miraculous clay ! 
Thou that art launched into the infinite void . 
Upon thy sparkling bubble-world upbuoyed ; 
And — as an Insect on a floating leaf 
Runs to and fro, incapable of flight, 
And works and waves in air its horns so slight — 

Dost ever, on thy voyage brief, 
Keep stretching towards some unimagined goal 
Hid in the blank abyss of light 
The feeble feelers of thy Soul ! 
Poor Atom on the Ocean of the All — 
Hold bravely onward ! faint not yet nor fall — 
Some day shall come full answer to-thy call !' " 



Enough — the homely reel of Life we hold — 

Of Amo's life and Ranolf s is unrolled ; 

She and her thoughtful thoughtless Wanderer bold, 

Slight subjects of a lingering theme, 
Faint visions of a too protracted dream, 
Sink down — and like the ghosts of every-day, 
The solid real flesh-phantoms — fade away ! 



NOTES. 



PRONUNCIATION OF NATIVE WORDS. 

Native words occurring in the foregoing poem, should be pronounced 
like Italian ; the double letter "ng" as the softer sound of the same 
letters in English. So "Maori" is pronounced " Mowree" (so as to 
rhyme with " dowry " — with an indication, however, of both the a and 
the o) ; and the nasal letters in " Tangi" precisely as in " slangy " (if 
there be such a word in English) with no separate sound of the g. The 
diphthong " ai " is sounded like long i or y. The emphasised syllables 
are mostly in the text marked with accents, though ncne are used in the 
written language. 

To avoid what Mr. Rossetti happily calls, " tripping up the reader 
and sending him to the bottom of the page " with continual references to 
explanatory notes, all such references have been omitted, with one or 
two exceptions, in the text, in the hope that the latter may be found 
sufficiently intelligible without them. Where for any reason notes 
appear to be desirable, they are inserted below, in the order in which 
the subjects they refer to occur in the book. 



I.— MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 

Pages I and 2. — " Rata root" and " koromiko " ; see note below on 
"Natural Objects." 

Page 5. — "Keen Searcher of the Seas": " Acerrimus Oceani 
Investigator." — See Capt. Cook's epitaph in St. Paul's. 



49° Notes. 

P a g e 5- — The legend of Maui, chief of Polynesian hero-gods, and 
his fishing up the islands, is found with variations in the Tongan, 
Samoan, Tahitian, and Sandwich-Island groups as well as in New 
Zealand. 

Page 7. — "Asphodel" and "Tree-fern," note below, "Natural 
Objects," where the scientific names of other plants or animals alluded 
to will be found. 

Page 11. — Seizure of Amohia. That this incident is sufficiently in 
accordance with Maori usages will appear from the following extract of 
an official letter received by the author in the colony : — 

" Ranganui, Waikato, ^.th October, 1869. 
" Sir,— Last June I petitioned H. E. the Governor relative to certain 
lands in right of my wife, who is a native of the Whakatane district, 
who was stolen with her mother by Potatau " (since the so-called Maori 
king) " taken as slaves and removed to the Waikato, where they were 
forced to remain," &c. 

In the petition the writer says, "She belonged to a tribe having 
large possessions in her original district ; having been twice married (to 
Europeans), has been the mother of nineteen children, of whom fourteen 
are now alive, and twelve of whom reside near the Waikato River." 
A list of the family accompanying the petition showed that her three 
elder daughters have respectively six, six, and five children — again by 
Europeans. A fact for the Anthropologists. 

Page 16. — "A parrot for a pet." " Possessing excellent powers of 
mimicry, and usefid to the natives as a decoy-bird, the Kaka (parrot) 
is much sought after, and almost every native village has its ' mokaV " 
— History of the Birds of New Zealand, by Dr. Buller. 

Page 17. — " Haere alu, Go your way." Common form of words 
used by the Maori to persons taking leave of them. 

Page 26. — " Ahuramasda," "Living I Am." See Professor Max 
Mutter's Chips from a Gernian Workshop. So with respect to Buddha. 
(See below.) 

Page 26. — " Egg of Order." By the Egg of Ormusd (Ahuramasda) 
the old Magians typified the moral and physical order of his work, the 



Notes. 49 l 

Universe ; pierced by Ahriman with Evil, of which he was the origin 
and author. See Gibbon's Decline and Fall, ch. 8, &c. 

Page 27. — "Jamaica" means "Isle of Springs;" see Bryan 
Edwards's West Indies. 

Page 31. — " What other just conclusion, &c." I cannot help venturing 
to think, in spite of the high authority of Mr. Grote {Plato and other 
Companions of Socrates'), that Socrates must have held the opinions here 
attributed to him ; because it is difficult to conceive, that with the 
general notions of the Gods or God, the learned historian himself 
describes as those of Socrates, the latter could have arrived at the 
conclusions Mr. Grote, discarding the evidence of Plato, conceives him 
to have come to. 

Page 31.— "Bull wise" — "aW wc nsp tuoOei ravprjdbv viro- 
/3\£^ac," k.t.X. — Phcedo. Though directed towards the gaoler, was not 
the expression of the look of Socrates caused as supposed in the 
text? 

Page 35. — Kapila? s "Perfect Wisdom." Kapila, founder of the 
Sankhya system ; one of the systems of Brahmann philosophy prior to 
Buddhism, though the Kapila Sutras ("Aphorisms or Precepts of 
Kapila") are subsequent. Kapila gives his philosophy in the book he 
styles " Pragnaparamita," or "Perfect Wisdom." Both Hindu and 
Buddhist philosophers deny the reality of the objective world. See 
Essays of Professor H. H. Wilson, and Professor Max Midler's 
Chips, &c, above cited. 

Page 35. — Sakya Muni or Guatama, the Buddha, founder of 
Buddhism, lived about 500 B.C. A Buddha ("the enlightened one") 
was a human being, who had attained, by the practice of virtue through 
millions of ages and many transformations, to that highest state of per- 
fection. 

Page 35. — "Its founder's self, made God, &c." "Buddha being 
supreme, worship of gods was superfluous ; but the mass of mankind 
needing sensible objects of worship, Buddha came to be substituted for 
the gods. In course of time other inconsistent gods were added. . . 
Belief in a supreme Being, Creator, and Ruler of the Universe is a 



49 2 Notes. 

modern graft upon the unqualified atheism of Sakya Muni." — Essays by 
H. H. Wilson, Boden Professor of Sanskrit, Oxford. Vol. 4. 

Page 35. — " Night of non-existence." " Utter extinction, as the great 
end and object of life, was a fundamental feature of Buddhism ; ' Nir- 
vana,' a ' blowing out' as of a candle — annihilation." — Ibid. It seems 
doubtful (according to Professor Miiller) whether this last doctrine was 
really that of Sakya, or only of Kasyapa, and other followers. 

Page 35. — " High-moralled faith." " This moral code, one of the 
most perfect the world has ever known." — Max Muller's Chips, &c. 

Page 36. — "Basket." The earliest Buddhist canon is called the 
" Tripitaka," or "The Three Baskets;" the 1st, contains the Sutras 
or discourses of Buddha, written by Ananda. 2nd, Vinaya, his 
code of morality, by Upali. 3rd, Abhidarma, his system of meta- 
physics, by Kasyapa. All the writers, pupils and friends of Sakya 
Muni. — Ibid. 

Page 39. — " No vision of the City, &c." " Hast thou not considered 
how thy Lord dealt with Ad, the people of Irem, adorned with lofty 
buildings, the like whereof hath not been erected in the land ? " — Koran, 
ch. 98, Sale's Translation. In a note, Sale says the passage refers to 
the " sumptuous palace and delightful gardens built and made in the 
deserts of Aden in imitation of the celestial paradise," by Sheddad, son 
of Ad, the king and founder of "a potent tribe destroyed for their 
infidelity. When finished, he set out with a great attendance to take a 
view of it, but within a day's journey of it they were all destroyed 
by a terrible noise from heaven. Al Beidawi adds, that one Abdallah 
Ebn Kelabah accidentally hit on this wonderful place as he was seeking 
a camel." — Sale's Koran, vol. ii. p. 484. 

Page 40. — " Three-tongued wedge-rows." Cuneiform inscriptions 
in Assyrian, Persian, and Tahtar. 

Page 41. — "Portico," and "Academe." See the magnificent 
picture of Fichte by the great portrait-painter of the age. " The cold, 
colossal, adamantine Spirit, standing erect and clear like a Cato Major 
among men ; fit to have been the teacher of the Stoa, and to have 
discoursed of beauty and virtue in the groves of Academe, &c." — 



Notes. 493 

" State of German Literature," in Essays and Miscellanies, by Thomas 
Carlyle. 

Page 42. — "Healthier dreams." " Exemption from being born again, 
the summum bonum. The Brahmins think this, but effect it by spiritual 
absorption either into the universal spirit or into an all-comprehending 
divine spirit ; but the Buddhists recognize no such recipient for the 
liberated soul." — Wilson's Essays, &c. The heterodox Buddhists, in 
Thibet, Ceylon, and Burmah, probably all but the learned everywhere, 
— seem to have relapsed into the old Hindu doctrine. " The modern 
Buddhists of Burmah hold Nirvana (their Nigban) simply to be freedom 
from old age, disease, and death. . . Buddha, who denied the existence, 
or at least the divine nature of the gods worshipped by the Brahmans, 
was made a deity by some of his followers as early as the age of Clemens 
of Alexandria ; and we need not wonder if his Nirvana was gradually 
changed into an Elysian field." — Midler's Chips, &c. 

Page 42. — "Red robes," &c. Worn in heterodox Tartary and 
Thibet ; the priests in Ceylon, Ava, and Siam adhering to the more 
orthodox fashion of yellow robes, with shaven heads. — Wilson's Essays. 

Page 42. — "Gem in the Lotus-flower, Amen." "The sacred 
formula," says M. Hue, " ' Om mani padme houmj spread rapidly 
through all the countries of Thibet and Mongolia. . . . They (the 
Buddhists of these districts) have written an infinity of voluminous 
books to explain their famous mani. The Lamas say the doctrine con- 
tained in these marvellous words is immense, and that the whole life of 
a man is insufficient to measure its breadth and depth. " The Regent 
of Thibet, however, explained it to M. Hue, who sums up the explana- 
tion thus : ' ' The literal meaning of the words is ' O the gem in the 
Lotus, Amen.' The gem being the emblem of perfection, and the 
Lotus of Buddha, it may perhaps be considered that the words express 
the desire to acquire perfection in order to be absorbed in the Universal 
Soul. So the symbolic formula might be paraphrased thus : ' O may I 
obtain perfection to be absorbed in Buddha, Amen.'" — Hue's Travels 
in Tartary, Thibet, and China ; translated by Hazlitt. 

Page 45. — "A clay-clad wingless weak ephemeral," &c. 
""Aye dri (pvatv dvSpsg dfiavp6j3ioi . . . 
'OAry 08 pavhg, TrXaafiara tttjXov . . . 
'A7rr^v£c tyrjuepioi," k.t.X. — Aristophanes, Aves, 685. 



494 Notes. 

Page 46. — " Scarab-worship." The beetle {Scarabeus sacer, Linn.) 
was an emblem of the Creative Power, Pthah ; also of the Sun, the 
World, &c. But like other sacred animals, it was worshipped without 
reference to any type, for reasons difficult or impossible to discover. 
Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. v., &c. 

Page 48. — "Ding the book," &c. How refreshing the chance to 
quote a few words that recall the slashing energy and hearty idiomatic 
downrightness of Milton's wonderful prose ! and more refreshing, in 
these days, when they give us a glimpse of the great free soul of this 
spurner of every kind of spiritual tyranny : ' ' When every acute reader, 
upon the first sight of a pedantic licenser, will be ready with these- 
like words, to ding the book a coifs distance from him; ' I hate a 
pupil-teacher ; I endure not an instructor that comes to me under the 
wardship of an overseeing fist.' " — Areopagitica. 

Page 50. — " Nature in her insentient Solitude," &c. See Mr. Lewes's 
admirable Biographical History of Philosophy. 

Page 53. — "As Dante's heard, &c. : — 

' ' La miserella 

Pare a dicer 

***** 
Colui, che mai non vide cosa nuova, 
Produsse esto visibile parlare, 
Novello a noi, perche qui non si truova. " 

— Purgatorio, Cant. x. 82 — 96. 

Page 67. — " Cold and stony flowers." Described afterwards, Canto 
xvii. p. 271. 

Page 74. — "A T araka," the Hell of the Hindu, as " Niflheim" that 
of the Scandinavian, mythology. 

Page 75- — "Aztec birds." "There was such a multitude of Birds 
that the Ponds could not hold them, and so extraordinary was their 
variety for Shape and Feathers that our men were annoyed when they 
first saw them; . . . Montezuma took such care to have these birds 
maintained that every sort was supplied with the proper Food they lived 
upon abroad, &c. Above 300 persons were appointed to attend them ; 
. . . some looked to their Eggs ; others did set them when brooding ; 
others cur'd them when sick ; others pulled their finest Feathers in hot 



Notes. 495 

weather, which was their motive for being at all that Charge and 
Trouble. They made of them rich Mantles and Carpets, Targets, 
Plumes, Fans, and several other Things interwoven with Gold and 
Silver, all of them extraordinary curious and strange Works."— -From 
the description of Montezuma's Palace, Gardens, Aviaries, &c, at 
Mexico : Herrara's History of America, vol. ii. ; Stevens's Translation. 
The finest of these birds were Trogons — the species Trogon resplendens 
and Trogon Mexicanus, found only in the gloomy forests of the Southern 
States of Mexico. 

Page 89. — The Maories trace their origin to the occupants of certain 
canoes, who first came from " Hawaiki," probably "Owhyhee," now 
spelt "Hawaii." 

Page 91. — The reception of missionary teaching attributed to Tangi- 
moana was that actually given to it by a Maori chieftain. See Narrative 
of a Twelve Months' Residence in New Zealand, by Augustus Erie, Lond. 
1832. The remark and gesture relating to divisions of faith were those 
of Te Heu-heu, a famous "heathen " Maori chief. He and a portion of 
his tribe were stifled in a liquid land-slip as described at p. 97. 

Page 102. — Some of these necromantic powers are attributed to a 
sorcerer in Sir George Grey's Polynesian Mythology. 

Page 103. — "Central Lake." Lake Taupo, the great lake about 
the centre of the Northern Island. 

Page 122. — " Te Ra, the Sun." A curious coincidence, if nothing 
more, that the Sun, personified or deified throughout Polynesia under 
the name " Ra," was worshipped under the same name Ra, or Re, 
{The Sun, Pi-R&, = Phrah, = Pharaoh, the royal title) universally 
throughout Egypt, and especially at Heliopolis in Lower Egypt, the 
" On" of the Jewish scriptures. See Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, 
vol. iv., p. 287, &c. 

Page 135. — For the beginning of motion in the nebulous matter, 
see Vestiges of Creation, &c. 

Page 136. — "Himself best proclaims," &c. The following extract 
will explain this allusion to the doctrine of the " Correlation of Forces : " 

"It seems to me," says Mr. Grove, after speaking of magnetism, 
electricity, light, heat, and chemical affinity, "that it is now proved that 



496 Notes. 

all these forces are so invariably connected inter se, and with Motion, as 
to be regarded as modifications of each other, and as resolving them- 
selves objectively into Motion, and subjectively into that something 
which produces or resists Motion, and which we call Force." Address 
to the British Association, 1866; Correlation of Physical Forces, and 
Address, &c, byW. R. Grove, President, &c. &c. That all the "wisest 
and best " of our philosophers do not hold the opinion glanced at in 
the text is shown perhaps from the last paragraph of this philosopher's 
Address : "In all phenomena, the more closely they are investigated, 
the more we are convinced that, humanly speaking, neither Matter nor 
Force can be created or annihilated, and that an essential Cause is 
unattainable. Causation is the will — Creation the act — of God." — Ibid. 
For the correlation of sound, see Prof. Tyndall's work on Sound, &c. 

Page 149. — The desecration of the grave. " To eat in a canoe while 
passing a spot where the dead had been buried was considered a great 
impiety; drowning was expected to result." — Polack's Manners and 
Customs of the New Zealanders, Lond. 1 840. Spirits of the dead often 
appeared in the form of birds. 

Page 155'. — "Fitted up a canoe," &c. A slight undertaking com- 
pared to what was actually done by a first-rate settler and pioneer, 
Mr. Rees, of Otago, who, in the early days of its history, used to 
navigate and carry provisions up the dangerous Lake Wakatipu (a lake 
with grand Swiss-like scenery far in the interior of the country) in a 
boat built by himself of rough frame-work cut in the neighbouring 
forests, and 

" Nailed all over the gaping sides 
Within and without, with red bull-hides. " 

Page 165. — The incident of Amohia swimming across the Lake to 
her lover is taken from the legend of Hinemoa (an ancestress of the 
Arawa tribe, inhabiting Rotorua), in Polynesian Mythology. The 
shock given to the maiden's feelings which makes her resolve to escape 
is in the same legend compared to that of an earthquake, and herself at 
the well to a white crane. 

Page 168. — "Dread Spirit, " &c. The natives, on coming into a new 
place, always uttered an incantation to the spirit presiding over the spot, 
the genius loci. 

Page 173. — Stumps of trees, remnants of a submerged forest, are 
found in Lake Rotorua. 






Notes. 497 

Page 182. — " And apprehend," &c. Is it necessary to refer to that 
profound metaphysical distinction of Hamlet? — " What a piece of work 
is Man ! ... in apprehension how like a God ! " — where the word 
" apprehension" suggests the complement of the thought, " in compre- 
hension how like a worm ! " as vividly as if it had been expressed — as 
of course it could not have been there. All the distinction between 
Noumenal and Phenomenal, Ideal and Real, Object and Subject, the 
Metaphysicians make such a to-do about, rolled up in that little phrase ! 

Page 213. — " Robe-skirt's splendour " : 

" Dark with excessive bright his skirts appear 
Yet dazzle heaven," &c. 

— Paradise Lost. 

Page 221. — ' ' Some earthquake's pant. " Such a rupture of a swamp 
occurred at Wellington after the earthquakes of 1848. 

Page 222. — ' ' By all the law the land supplied, " &c. " The Maori, " 
says the Rev. Richard Taylor, "seem to differ from almost every known 
tribe or nation in having no regular marriage ceremony ; they had no 
karakia (incantation), or any rite to mark an event which, in nearly every 
other part of the world is accounted the most joyous in life." — New 
Zealand and its Inhabitants, p. 163. 

Page 229. — "The Bounteous Bay." The Bay of Plenty. 

Page 236. — " Campaspe." 

' ' Cupid and my Campaspe played 
At cards for kisses. Cupid paid," &c. 

— Song, by John Lyly, the Euphuist. 

Page 276. — "Savarin." Brillat-Savarin, author of that drily- 
humorous cookery-book, La Physiologie du Goiit. 

Page 282. — The description of carriages in the text was actually 
given by a Maori, and is recorded in some book of travels, I have for- 
gotten whose. 

Page 291. — Origin of Woman. " The first woman was not born, 
but formed out of the earth by the Arohi-rohi, or quivering heat of the 
sun, and the echo." — New Zealand and its Inhabitants, p. 18. 

Page 298. — The Maori to this day have a superstitious dread of as- 
cending the mountain alluded to. 

32 



49 8 Notes. 

Page 308. — "A cockle-shell." Shells of cockles, whelks, or other 
marine mollusks, are sometimes found on the banks of rivers or fresh- 
water lakes in the heart of the country. 

Page 315. — " Some hot mead where violets hid," &c. One of the 
beautiful rural images with which Aristophanes tantalizes the Athenians 
pent up so many years within their town- walls : 
a\\' avctfivrjcrOevTEQ wvdpsg 
. . . rail/ re ovkwv, tu>v ts /ivprajv, 
rrjg rpvyog re Trjg yXvKeiag, 
rfjg l<aviag ti rrjg 7Tpoc ra7 rppeari, k.t.X. 

'Eitfvr), 565-71. 
For the kind of well, see Dr. Clarke's Travels in Greece. 

Page 316. — The readers of good old-fashioned Lempriere will re- 
member the golden grasshoppers the Athenians used to stick in their 
hair, as emblematical of their nation's origin from the soil, and conse- 
quently great antiquity. 

Page 319. — "Dynamic energies immense," &c. Referring to our 
power of converting one mode of force into another, Mr. Grove says, 
" We may probably be enabled to absorb or store up, as it were, 
diffused energy. ... As the sun's force, spent in time long past, is 
now returned to us from the coal, which was formed by that light and 
heat, so the sun's rays, which are daily wasted, as far as we are con- 
cerned, on the sandy deserts of Africa, may hereafter, by chemical or 
mechanical means, be made to light and warm the habitations of the 
denizens of other regions." "Correlation of Forces," &c, quoted above. 

" Dynamic energy" is force in motion ; when at rest and latent, it 
becomes "potential energy," with "distance to act in." The law of 
conservation affirms " the constancy of the sum of both." See Professor 
Tyndall on the "Convertibility of Natural Forces," in "Heat as a 
Mode of Motion:' 

Page 323. — "Immeasurable abyss," &c. Let not the English 
reader think this too high a flight for a Maori girl. It is but a slight 
amplification of an epithet not uncommonly applied in their songs by a 
woman to her lover: " taku torere — my Abyss !" And a pet phrase 
of theirs in the like case, given by Mr. Shortland in one of the books 
above cited, is, " Taku huia kai?nanatua — my Spirit-devouring Hoopoe !" 
the hoopoe being, as the Maori describe it, a bird ' ' nui nui rangatira — 
very chieftainlike — very, very much of a gentleman." 



. 



Notes. 499 

Page 326. — " War-chief." Napoleon in Egypt. — Bonrrienne. 

Page 337. — "Diviners bold," &c. As Kepler, in the beginning of 
the seventeenth century, foretold the existence, between Mars and 
Jupiter, of the planet required by the laws and analogies he had esta- 
blished ; which planet, in its fragmentary condition, was discovered about 
200 years later by Baron Zach, Piazzi, D'Olbers, and others, as Ceres, 
Pallas, &c, and the numerous asteroids in their neighbourhood. Similar 
instances of the accordance of Nature with the independent deductions 
of Science will occur to the reader as given in the prediction by Coper- 
nicus of the existence in Venus of phases like the Moon's ; and in our 
time, the indication by Leverrier, from intricate and abstruse calcula- 
tions, to account for the "perturbations of Uranus," of the existence 
and precise locality of the new planet Neptune, discovered as soon as 
sought for in the direction pointed out by the prophetical astronomer. 

Pages 364 to 370. — The reader will, I trust, pardon this digression ; 
written (like the rest of the poem, in New Zealand) at a time when the 
English Government showed no doubtful symptoms of a desire, or inten- 
tion, to throw off the Colonies, and so dismember the British Empire. 

Page 366. — " Race of War-fleets." Every one knows the object of 
the French and Spanish fleets was to draw Nelson away from the 
British seas ; but the affair was none the less a flight and a chase, and 
the grandest in history. 

Page 367. — " Bandit in his lair," &c. "There came from the tra- 
veller Wolfe, then at Bokhara, a letter saying the General's anger was 
dreaded there ; and at the same time presents and assurances of good- 
will arrived from many other quarters, amongst them, from the Affghan 
Chiefs of Candahar and Herat; and it was at this time the Khan of 
Khiva, whose dominions border en the Aral and Caspian seas, sent 
a prince of his family to negotiate an alliance with the victorious 
General." — Sir W. Napier's Administration of Scinde by Sir C. J. 
Napier, p. 140. Could he but have had 10,000 men and carte-blanche I 

Page 367. — " Brother of Shay-tan." A name given at first, in their 
wonderment and terror, by some of the subdued tribes to Sir C. Napier. 

Two or three years of such a man's government would have made 

the Maories peaceful, industrious, contented, and loyal. 

Page 369. — Capt. St. George, a young and most promising officer 
in the Colonial service, was killed while leading the native contingent 



500 Notes. 

in a successful attack upon a "pah" or fortified village at Poutou, near 
Roto-aira, occupied by rebel natives under the religious fanatic, Te 
Kooti, on the 4th of October, 1869. Being alone ahead of the others, 
he drew the enemy's fire upon himself as, in the words of an eyewitness 
and fellow-combatant — Captain Mair, in the same service — he " led 
his men on in his usual dashing style. " 

Te Kooti is the principal leader or founder of the " Hau-hau," who 
attracted his followers with pretensions to revelations from an Angel 
of the extermination of the whites and their own invulnerability, both 
of which predictions were speedily falsified. 

Page 373. — The author of Rambles in New Zealand, 1841, Mr. J. 
Bidwell, compares the harsh groans of Maories in a war-dance to the 
sound of a regiment returning ramrods. 

Page 385. — "Is this your mutton-fish!" &c. (See note below, 
"Natural Objects," p. 385 ) The proverb is given by Mr. Shortland. 
The natives make the eyes (or rather the irides of the eyes) of their 
wooden images, and of spearheads, &c, out of the nacre or mother-of- 
pearl lining of these shells. Hence possibly, I think, the allusion to 
this shell-fish with the gesture (attributed to Tangi in the text) may be 
explained as equivalent to asking, " Is this eye of mine like that of an 
image? am I a dead or senseless thing like it, you can do what you 
like with?" 

Page 388. — "Tongariro" — a volcano, 6,500 feet high, in the centre 
of the Northern Island; in active eruption when this was written (May, 
1871). 

Page 396. — " Mawai, the Gourd," and " Marupo," are real names 
given for the reasons stated in the text. 

Page 398. — "Pry into the wound," &c. "Natives used kaikatea 
and kaua-kaua leaves, and other herbs as medicines. . . . Bullet- 
wounds were well-washed, lead extracted, boiled herbs applied exter- 
nally. " — Polack's Manners and Customs of the New Zealanders, vol. ii. 
p. 99, &c. 

Pages 409, 410. — The sounds described here were those which 
accompanied the approach of spirits in Maori conjurations. 

Pages 413 to 418. — The deathwound — occupations during his last 
Illness — and the last words attributed to Tangi, were really those of a 
celebrated Maori warrior, E Hongi, killed in the early part of the 



Notes. 501 

century, as narrated in Missionary books. The conduct and exclama- 
tions of the Priest are from a description of the death of a Chief in 
Old New Zealand, a very graphic and humorous book by F. E. Maning, 
Esq., now a Judge of the New Zealand Native Lands Court. 

Page $1%. — "Made breezes sigh," &c. The "pathetic fallacy," 
denounced by Mr. Ruskin, is at least undeniably and purely natural, 
and perhaps universal. Instances of it occur very frequently in Maori 
songs. 

Page 440. — "The gleam iridescent" — called by sailors, a sun-dog. 



II.— WAIATA, OR NATIVE SONGS. 

Page 97. — " Death, degrading," &c. This death-song is an amplifi- 
cation of one given, in his collection of Poems, Traditions, and C haunts 
of the Maories in the native tongue, by Sir Geo. Grey, late Governor of 
New Zealand, to whom alone the preservation of what may now be 
called the "literature" of a savage race, including, besides the above 
forms of it, their proverbs, &c. , is to be attributed. 

Page 153. — "Leave me ! yes !" &c. A free paraphrase of a song 
in the same collection. 

Page 155. — "Now should he come," &c. No Maori original of 
this song. 

Page 158. —"Tears, tears!" &c. A tolerably close paraphrase of 
a song in Sir G. Grey's collection. 

Page 168. — " The freshet is flowing," &c. The idea of the flooded 
stream and fair wind assisting the maiden's flight while she sits idly 
twirling the paddle of her canoe, form part of a Maori song in the same 
collection. Also the appeal to the father at the end. 

Page 176. — "As well upbraid," &c. No authority for the song 
alluded to. 

Page 223. — " Praise her — bless her." No Maori original of this 
song, except that the idea of a girl's decorating herself with flax-work, 
feathers, and greenstone ornaments, to attract admirers, occurs more 
than once in the same collection. 



502 Notes. 

Page 245. — "Alas, and well-a-day ! " &c. Avery free paraphrase 
of a song in Sir G. Grey's collection. " Ropa is a declaration of love by 
pinching the fingers." — Rev. R. Taylor's New Zealand and its Inhabi- 
tants, p. 164. 

Page 354. — "The clashing of tempests." A free amplification of 
a song in the same collection. 

Page 374. — " How long, how long," &c. A paraphrase of a war- 
song given in Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders, by 
Ed. Shortland, M.A. 

Page 379. — "Hit out, hit out," &c Paraphrase of a song in Sir 
G. Grey's collection. 

Page 407.— "Be wakeful," &c. Ditto. 

Page 412. — " Stars are fleeting." Ditto. 

Of the songs above specified, those invented are, it is believed, 
sufficiently in accordance with the ordinary tone of native feeling and 
thought ; while those paraphrased or amplified will perhaps in their 
English dress have much the same appearance to an English reader as 
the originals to a native hearer. In songs or other compositions orally 
transmitted, it should be remembered that the hearer receives them 
in most cases from a source which can itself supply the associations, 
details, or explanations, which so often render paraphrases necessary to 
make them intelligible to others. The reciter is a living book, ready 
to answer every query, and amplify to any extent desirable ; adapt 
itself, in short, to the greater or less degree of imaginativeness in the 
hearer. Perhaps this may partly account for the exceeding simplicity 
and terseness of most early and oral poetry, quite as much as any 
presumed severity of taste in the composers. Poetry so communicated 
always had, besides, the expressive looks, tones and gestures of the 
person communicating it — to facilitate brevity. 



IH.— LEGENDS. 



Pages 116 to 120. — The legends alluded to will be found detailed at 
length in Sir G. Grey's Polynesian Mythology. That of Pitaka in 
the Rev. R. Taylor's New Zealand and its Inhabitants. 



Notes. 503 

Page 121. — Legend of Tawhaki. Maui and Tawhaki are the two 
principal hero-gods of the Maori and other Polynesian tribes. The 
legends relating to Tawhaki are given in full in Sir G. Grey's work just 
cited ; and imperfectly, and with variations, in the Rev. R. Taylor's 
New Zealand, &c. 

Page 132. — The Maori Cosmogony or Theogony is given in Polynesian 
Mythology, and in one of Mr. Shortland's excellent little works ; also 
in Mr. Taylor's book : in all with variations. 

Page 190. — Legend of Patito. Mr. John White, in a lecture on 
Maori customs, printed in the Appendix to Votes and Proceedings of. 
the New Zealand Parliament, 1851, mentions a legend to the effect that 
a famous Chief, Patito, jealous of his son's warlike fame, came from the 
Reinga, or abode of departed spirits, to fight him ; and the native belief 
that had the son conquered, Death would have been abolished. 

Page 193. — Maui's Descent to the Reinga. This is one of the adven- 
tures of Maui, narrated in Polynesian Mythology, and in Mr. Taylor's 
book. But the version given by the latter identifies the " Reinga," or 
kingdom of " Mother Night," in a truly Maori style, with that venerable 
lady's person. 

There is no authority, as far as I am aware, for the description of 
the Realm of Ru. But Ru is really the Earthquake God. 

Page 205. — The Patupaere, or Patupaiarehe, were supernatural 
beings in some particulars resembling European Fairies, though some 
were, apparently, Giants. The best account of them is in Polynesian 
Mythology. 

Page 303. — Kidnapping of Hatupatu by the Giantess. Described 
before, p. 118. 

Page 305. — " The last person who had wings was Te Kahui-rere ; he 
lost them by a woman pressing them down when he was asleep." — 
Taylor's New Zealand, &>c., p. 34. 

Page 305. — Wakatu, the inventor of Kite-flying. This incident is 
given in Polynesian Mythology, " Adventures of Rata." 



504 Notes. 



IV.— NATURAL OBJECTS. 

Though everything introduced into the poem relating to animals and 
plants is of course from actual observation, I think it as well, in confirmation 
of my remarks, and as most of the objects themselves must be strange to 
English readers, to give their scientific names and some brief notices of them, 
extracted from such books as I could readily come at. 

I. TREES AND SHRUBS. 

Page. 

i. Rata i Order, Myrtacese ; Genus, Metrosideros ; Species, M. 

robusta. 
A magnificent flowering-tree described afterwards, p. 264. 

2. Koromiko 0. Scrophularineae ; G. Veronica. 

Dr. Hooker describes forty species, and says, — "In New Zealand 
it forms a more conspicuous feature of the vegetation than in 
any other country; from the number, beauty, and ubiquity of 
the species ; from so many forming large bushes, and from 
the remarkable forms the genus presents. " 

7. Asphodel (7z) O. Liliaceae ; G. Cordyline ; S. C. Australis. 

" Leaves ensiform, two feet long, one and a half inch broad. Trunk 
ten to forty feet high. Flowers densely crowded." This genus, 
with others, forming the family Asphodeleae, are included by 
Dr. Hooker in the O. Liliaceae. 

,, Tree-fern O. Filices ; G. Cyathasa ; S. C. dealbata, or Silver-fern, 

and C. medullaris — two common species. 
"Trunk twelve to forty feet high." 
11. Flax {harakeke,\ LiKaceae . G Phormium . S . Ph. tenax. 

' J Profuse in swamps and elsewhere throughout the islands. Used 

as hemp and flax. 

„ Supplejack {Ka-\ Q Lm g Rhipogonum ; S. R. scandens. 

reao) J 7 r ° 

16. Convolvulus 0. Convolvulaceae ; G. Convolvulus. Five species — 

mostly white or rosehued. 

,, Clematis (See note to p. 260 below.) 

„ Alectryon( Titoki) O. Sapindaceae ; G. Alectryon ; S. A. excelsum. 

103. TutuorTupaki 0. Coriariae ; G. Coriaria ; S. C. ruscifolia. 

A large bush, with deep green leaves. " The juice of the berries 
is purple and affords a grateful beverage to the natives." The 
fruit hangs in thick fringes. The seeds " produce convulsions, 
delirium, and death." 

105. Coffee-bush(Ka-j a Rubiace3e(?) & Coprosma (?) Several species. 

ramu / J Fruit and seeds like small coffee berries, in scarlet colour, arrange- 
ment, and taste. 



Notes. 505 



107. Kowhai-flowers (See note below, p.- 261.) 

,, Totara O. Coniferge ; G. Podocarpus; S. P. totara. 

"The Swamp-totara, P. dacrydioides, grows to 150 feet in height. 
P. totara, from which canoes are made," to a less height. " Bark 
used for roofing." 

108. Karaka 0. Anacardiaceae ; G. Corynocarpus ; S. C. laevigata. 

" Tree, forty feet high ; berries, two to three inches long ; " 
orange-coloured, eaten as food. 

,, Tawhiri 0. Pittosporeae ; G. Pittosporum ; S. P. cornifolium. 

A large shrub ; many varieties ; leaves of some highly scented. 

,, Kiekie (parasite) O. Pandaneae ; G. Freycinetia ; S. Freycinetia Banksii . 
" A lofty climber ; the bracts and young spikes make a very sweet 
preserve." Grows in forks of trees, &c. Fleshy leaves of 
flower like soft, bitter-sweet apple. 

in. Locust- trees) /c , , „,, , 

{Kmvhai) } (See note to p. 261.) 

117. Rimu-tree O. Coniferae ; G. Dracrydium ; S. D. cupressinum. 

" Tree pyramidal, branches weeping, trunk eighty feet high, four 
to five feet diameter. " 

123. Fungus-balls 0. Fungi; Sub-order, Gasteromycetes ; Tribe, Tricho- 

gastres. 
" Hymenium or fructifying surface, dries up into a dusty mass of 
microscopic threads or spores." 

131. Fern-root 0. Filices ; G. Pteris ; S. Pteris aquilina, of which a 

variety is Pteris esculenta — edible fern. 
" Common in the south temperate zone." 

" , ,' \0. Convolvulaceae ; G. Ipomoea ; S. Batatus edulis. 

,, Taro 0. Pandaneae (Aroideae) ; G. Caladum ; S. Caladum 

esculentum. 
"A staple article of food in many parts of the Old World." A 
root something like the kumara — but whiter, firmer, and less 
sweet. 

132. TupakiorTutu (See above, note to p. 103.) 

134. Toe-toe (See note to p. 172 below.) 

The term " toe !" alluding to the light large flower of this grass is 
used metaphorically precisely as we use the word " chaff." 

149. Manuka 0. Myrtaceae ; G. Leptospermum ; S. L. scoparium, or 

L. ericoides. 
"A large shrub or small tree ; leaves used as tea in Tasmania 
and Australia, where the plant is equally abundant." In the 
poem it is called indiscriminately manuka, broom, broom-like 
myrtle, or leptosperm. The settlers often call it ' tea-broom. ' 

149. Green rushes) Q Typhace£e . q Typha . S . T. angustifolia. 
\KaupO) J u Extensively used for making walls." 



506 



Notes. 



I72 ' S 7T°og d t"o g er SS !?- Gramin ^; G. Arundo; S. A. conspicua. 

V ' ' ' The largest New Zealand grass ; confined to these islands ; 

culms three to eight (ten) feet high; used for thatch and 
lining houses with reed-work." 

213. rems D n Hooker describes 120 ferns— forty-five species and one genus 

being peculiar to New Zealand ; sixty common to it, Australia, 
and Tasmania ; and nine to it and Great Britain. 

221. Azolla-stains O. Marsiliacese ; G. Azolla ; S. A. rubra. 

" Plant floating, forming small red patches." 

233. Puriri 0. Verbenacea; ; G. Vitex ; S. V. littoralis. 

"A large tree, fifty to one hundred feet high ; trunk twenty feet 
in girth." Common along the northern coasts. 

234. Totaras (Note to p. 107.) 

236. Laurel-tree ( To- } ' , . _ >T _ , „ „ ■ . . 

rairi) 1 ?■ Launn e3e ; G. Nesodaphne ; S. N. Tarairi. 

' "A forest tree sixty to eighty feet high; berry one and a half 

inches long, purple." 

253. Titoki (Note to p. 16.) 

254. Savory Palm- 1 „ _ , _ . „ M 

tree (Nikau) J °' Palme£e 5 G - Areca ; S. A. sapida. 

260. Parasite - myrtle ) /1VT , , . 

(Rata) :. }( N ote to p. I.) 

,, K i n g - p i n e 



(Kauri) 



0. Coniferse ; G. Dammara ; S. D. Australis. 
" The famous Kauri-pine ; some near 200 feet high and forty feet 
in girth." 

,, Fuschia-tree 0. Onagrarise ; G. Fuschia ; 6". F. excorticata. 

" Often three feet in diameter. A very large S. American and 
especially Andean genus of most beautiful plants ; found no- 
where in the Old World but in New Zealand." 

,, Clematis 0. Ranunculacese ; G. Clematis ; S. C. indivisa. 

"A large, strong, woody climber with trunk often half a foot in 
diameter. Flowers most abundantly produced ; white ; sweet- 
scented ; according to Sir J. Banks and Dr. Solander, abun- 
dant throughout the islands — festooning the trees." Flowers, 
seven-petalled stars, three-and-one-eighth inches diameter. 

261. Kowhai (yellow) ~ T . ^ c , oo. 

or Locust-tree) I ° Leguminosae ; G. Sophora ; S. S. tetraptera. 
' ' An acacia-like tree with abundant yellow pendent flowers. 

" Kow ^ ai (s , ca K rl 1 ^|- O. Leguminosae ; G. Clianthus ; S. C. puniceus. 

or rarrot-Dlll, J «Qne f t h e most beautiful plants known." Long fringes of 
crimson flowers — like lobster claws, or, in the natives' eyes, 
parrots' bills ; so they call it ' ngutu-kaka ' the ' parrot- 
billed.' 

,, Eurybia O. Compositse ; G. Olearia ; Many species. 

Broad-leaved shrubs ; under-side of leaf furry white. 



Notes. 507 

f. n , \ 0. Filices ; G. Polypodium ; S. P. rupestre (Nipho- 

204. Creeper-tern j- bolus rupestris). 

275. Lycopod Lycopodium volubile, or L. densum. 

289. "Twine ^of j Q Rosace8e . G Rubus . s R> Australis. 

pnckles J " A lofty climber, armed with scattered recurved prickles ; 

branches very slender — pendulous." 

302. Amaranthine- I A1 j tne indigenous trees and shrubs of New Zealand are evergreen 
green J except the Fuschia-tree. 

311. Downy ironO 

heart {Pohutu- r 0. Myrtacege; G. Metrosideros; S. M. tomentosa. 

kawa) ' This most lovely tree is common about the northern coasts and 

cliffs of the North Island and the banks of Lake Tarawera. 

312. Pepper - spikes \ 

(f f U i!° r £ atkin r a Piperacea ; G. Piper; 5. P. excelsum. 
01 tne Mwa- « Catkins slender, one to four inches long." 
kawa) ) 

,, Poro-poro (po-) a Solanea^ ; G. Solanum ; S. S. aviculare and S. 
tato-apples of) | nigrum _ 

" Berry ovoid, edible, one to one-and-a-half inch long ; three- 
quarters inch thick." Sweet and rather richly flavoured when 
quite ripe. 

360. Hinau-berries 0. Tiliaceae; G. Eloeocarpus ; S. E. dentatus and E. 

Hookerianus. 
"A small tree with brown bark which yields a permanent dye. 
Drupe one-third to one-half inch long; pulp edible." 

All the above names (with the exception of that in the first note to p. 105), 
and all the remarks included in inverted commas, are from The Handbook to 
the Flora of New Zealand, by Dr. J. D. Hooker, whose very valuable services 
in connection with the botany of that country are highly appreciated by the 
Colonial Government and Parliament ; as well as by the numerous colonists 
interested in the subject. 

2. BIRDS AND INSECTS. 

94. Hoopoe-feathers Fam. Upupidse ; Heteralocha Acutirostris. 

A beautiful bird ; black shining plumage ; tips of tail feathers 
white ; bright orange wattles. " That it possesses strong 
affinities 10 the Hoopoes is certain." — Dr. Buller {History 
of New Zealand Birds, now publishing.) 

103. Wingless locust Deinacrida heteracantha. 

From some rough notes on this (not attractive) insect I made 
years ago I extract the following : — " This curious locust is 
found in soft- decaying trees ; its body and hind legs are in 
shape like a grasshopper's; its colour is pale reddish or 



5o8* 



Notes. 

yellowish white beneath, and, up the edges of the abdominal 
rings, head, and back, deep brown. The head of the male is 
set on perpendicularly, with a hard round forehead, like an 
elephant's, the head being with the jaws two-thirds as long as 
the rest of the bod v. Eyes staring and prominent, two very long 
antennas " (sometimes, says Dieffenbach, with the body reach- 
ing to fourteen inches) " between them ; the labrum long and 
large ; from beneath it falls a fleshy kind of curtain, triangular, 
on a broad neck, which it raises and lets fall like a portcullis, 
over the two enormous toothed mandibles hanging on each 
side curving towards each other at their ends ; black and an 
eighth of an inch in breadth and thickness each, which increase 

the resemblance to the elephant's head, &c (Much 

more about ' geniculated palpi,' 'fleshy tongue,' &c.) Tibiae 
of hind legs have a row of strong spines at the back, on each 

side, projecting outwards It has a large stomach 

opening into a gizzard, which is of really beautiful structure ; 
more than one-eighth of an inch in diameter, bluish- white in 
colour, oval-shaped, hard ; cut open, shews interior surface 
fluted with a number of toothed or serrated ridges meeting at 
the ends like lines on a currant or meridian lines on a globe ; 
the green vegetable-looking wet ground contents of stomach 

evidently passed through it These creatures hop 

feebly, and being teased, run towards the teasing object as if 
butting with the head. They smell like shrimps or shell- 
fish." 

105. Green parrakeet Psittacidae ; Two species, Platycercus Auriceps and P. 

Novae Zealandiae. 
First has a yellow, second a crimson crest. " General plumage 
bright grass green." — Buller. 

,, Kingfisher Alcedinidae ; Halcyon vagans. 

,, Ichneumon fly Ichneumonidae. 

The species alluded to is about the size and shape of a wasp ; 
thorax pure golden : abdomen bright ruddy brown ; both very 
hard. 
1 19« Cuttlefish Cephalopods are common about the coasts of New Zealand. 

I^I. Crayfish three or four inches long are caught in abundance in the central 

lakes in manner described. 
138. 'Tui,' the PaM 

Poe - bird of | Melliphagidae ; Prosthemadera Novas Zealandiae 
P p , 1 " Splendid bird — woods resound with its tuneful r 
Capt. COOK J Knight's Museum of Animated Nature. 

140. Hawk Falconidae. 

The most common species appears to be the Cercus Gouldi : or 
New Zealand Harrier, — Buller. 

159. Cicada Cicadidae ; Cicada cingulata or Cruentata (?) 

These beautiful insects abound in the islands — biggest one and 
half inches long, near half inch broad at the head. 

168. Night-hawk ox\ 

New Zealand \ Strigidae ; Spiloglaux Novae Zealandiae : (Buller). 
Owl 1 The "morepork" of the colonists. 

173. Wild-pigeon (See note to p. 223.) 



notes. — 



Notes. 509 

194. Jelly-fish C. Acalephae ; O. Pulmonigrada ; G Medusae. 

Size of a dinner-plate and smaller ; abound in the bays and har- 
bours ; some beautifully marked on the upper surface of disc 
with radiating scarlet lines. 

202. Korimako Melliphagidse ; Anthornis melanura. 

208. Lizard '. Scincidse ; Hinulia N. Zealandica (Gray). 

209. Phasmid. The] p # Orthoptera ; G. Phasmidse. 

Walkingr s evera l species in New Zealand : mostly admirable imitations of 

Stick " ' withered twigs or sticks ; one with wings like delicate leaves. 

Some are brilliant green, covered with thorns — like new shoots 

of some plants. In my rough notes, alluded to above, I find 

the following description of some of these very interesting 

insects I kept under a tumbler : — "These creatures are slow in 

their movements ; leave any limb in the position you place it 

in ; legs sticking up in the air like sprays of branches. The 

forelegs are joined to the body by a sort of foot-stalk thinner 

and tinged with red exactly like the petioles or leaf-stalks of 

some plants ; curious, as these legs can most conveniently be 

kept up in the air. Bodies and limbs long and slender ; three 

to six or seven inches in length — from an eighth to a quarter of an 

inch in thickness ; colour, pale brown inclined to grey, like dry 

sticks. Along their backs are rows of protuberances like 

incipient thorns. The female laid several eggs, eighth of an 

inch in length, oblong, grey, or French white in colour, dry 

and looking exceedingly like seeds of plants ; but crack in 

breaking and are full of a yellow liquid like yolks of bird's 

eggs. If the outer skin of the egg dried and broke off on being 

touched — the yolk had hardened into a gold-coloured grain. 

. . . . They thrust out their forelegs like antennae, though 

they have two of these latter. As they walk they frequently 

stop and sway their stick -like bodies, on their legs as if on 

springs, from side to side, with a slow regular motion, ceasing 

gradually, as if shaken by a light wind. Stride along pretty 

quickly if much handled or alarmed. But they will remain a 

considerable time in any attitudes they may be thrown into, 

upon their own or each others' backs, perfectly motionless ; 

with their long slender legs up in the air : mimics to the last. 

They have nine abdominal rings, not very strongly marked, but 

like small bamboo. Eyes of the colour of their bodies ; feet 

hooked. They will stand upright on two hind legs and tail if 

so placed, their arms (as you are tempted to call them) or 

rather their middle pair of legs stretched out and upwards, 

motionless ; their forelegs and antennae held perpendicular and 

close-joined as if a continuation of their body, which is no 

thicker As they walk they lift their legs high off 

the ground as if on stilts These Phasmids lived a 

fortnight or more among manuka-sprigs as lively to all 
appearance as ever. Then the smallest was found dead ; limp 
and as if sucked dry — part of its neck eaten away by its 
companions. So the rest were killed with spirits of wine. 
Though looking so dry externally they seem full of a thin 
watery sap-like fluid." 

213. Porphyrio (See note to p. 223.) 

218. White Crane 1 Ardeidse ; Herodias flavirostris (?) 

[Kotukti) j The Rev. R. Taylor mentions a native proverb that "A man only 

sees it once in a life-time ;" but it is much less uncommon in 
the Middle Island. 



5io Notes. 

223. Stock-doves Columbidae ; Columba spadicea, Chestnut-shouldered 

pigeon. 
"All the upper part and throat of this beautiful bird are of a 
changeable hue, with rosy-copper reflections running into 
brilliant iridescent tints." — -Knight's Museum of Animated 
Nature. 

" S , U J> ta ? a /, »" birds l^. Pallidas; G. Porphyrio (the < Poule Sultane' of the 

{fukeko) J r r ench— Polio Sultano, Ital. ), Porphyrio Melanotus, ib. 

The New Zealand species has crimson bill ; red legs ; rich deep- 
blue breast, rest of plumage velvet-black. 

,, Cuckoo F. Cuculidse ; Chrysococcyx lucidus (Gray), Cuculus 

Nitens (Forster). 

,, Parrots Trichoglossidae ; G. Nestor. 

Dr. Buller gives nine varieties, some splendidly coloured. They 
are "true flower-suckers." 

224. Albatross Procellaridse ; Diomedea exulans. 

232. Kiwi, the Apt- J Struthionid ^ . Three species. I. Apt. Australis, 2. A. 
er ^ x I Mantelli, 3. A. Owenii. 

"So extraordinary a bird that the existence of a species possessing 
such a combination of anomalous characters was long denied. 
Wings, trifling rudiments buried beneath general plumage, 
discovered with difficulty ; nostrils at tip of long beak ; no 
vestige of a tail : feathers long, lanceolate, only a single plume 
from each quill."— Knight's Museum, &c. , from descriptions 
in Transactions of the Zoological Society, by Professor 
Owen and others. 

239. Whitebait Eleotris basalis. 

Abundant. 

265. Cormorant Pelicanidae ; Grauculus punctatus, &c. 

" Social birds, and build their nests many together on high trees 
overhanging rivers and coasts." — Gray. 

274. Oyster-catcher G. Haematopus. 

,, Avocet G. Recurvirostra. 

R ,, j Struthionidae ; G. I. Dinornis, 3-toed ; 2. Palapteryx, 

252, Moa ) 4-toed; S. 13 or 14 described by Prof. Owen. 

Gigantic wingless birds, the massive bones of which are dug up 
in many parts of the country ; nine to ten feet six inches high 
according to Owen — thirteen or fourteen feet according to 
others — Kiwi (note to p. 232), apparently the only living repre- 
sentative of the family. 

289. Bittern Ardeidae ; Botaurus Melanotus (Gray), Ardea [B.] , 

Australis (Cuvier). 
" Total length two feet two inches." 

3OI. Honey-bird Several species of Melliphagidse common : including the — 



Mockjng-birdor| (NotetopI38)- 

1 Ui J So called by Captain Cook : and the- 



Notes. 5 1 1 



'301. Bell-bird or Ko- ) ,, T , . 

rimako } (Note to p. 202.) 

308. Grebe Colymbidse ; G. Podiceps ; S. P. cristatus (?) 

A beautiful crested grebe is found about the lakes in the Middle 
Island. 

314. Dragon-flies Libellulidse ; Petalura Carovei. 

Total length four inches five lines to four inches eight lines. — 
Gray. This species barred black and white. Other commonest 
species or varieties are about two inches long — bright scarlet or 
bright blue. 

347. Blue crane Ardeidse ; Herodias Matuku ? 

385. Mutton-fish Haliotis Iris. 

"These are found in colossal specimens." — Hochstettek. 

474. Sea-windflower Sea-anemones ; Actinise. 

Common on some of the rocky coasts. 

481. 'A slender beetle' O. Coleoptera ; F. Longicornes ; Callichroma (Calli- 
prason) Sinclairi. 
Gray — who calls it, "This delicately-pretty little longicorn 
beetle. " 

487. Animalcule Allusion to one of the Diatomaceae (vegetable or animal ?) placed 

under a microscope. 

The above chiefly taken from the list of the Fauna of New Zealand, by 
Dr. Gray of the British Museum, appended to Dieffenbach's New Zealand, 
vol. ii. 



THE END. 



London : Printed by Smith, Elder & Co., Old Bailey, E.G. 






ERRATA. 



Page 46, 



jj 53 


. „ 16, 


„ 69 


„ 5. 


,, 125 


, „ 24, 


„ 185 


„ 15, 


„ 188 


„ 24, 


, 213 


,, 12, 


,, 221 


„ 22, 


„ 256 


>. 15, 


„ 259 


„ 28, 


,, 261 


„ 3i. 


„ 301 


„ 15, 


„ 302 


„ 13, 


„ 343 


, » 8, 



, ./tfr "mere Scarabeus-worship " r^rtrf " unsymbolled Scarab- 
worship." 
, after "rest" insert semicolon. 
for " Sailor life" read " Sailor-life." 
for " wild wood " read " wildwood." 
for " nigh " read "near." 
for " tipped " read " lipped." 
after " below "for full stop insert comma. 
after " ruddiest hue " otnit full stop. 
for " abandoment" read " abandonment." 
after " knowing" 'for full stop i?isert comma. 
after " nature " omit full stop. 
for " wild ducks' " read " wild duck's." 
for " guest " read " quest." 
for " life blood " read "life-blood. " 



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